The Brooks Atkinson Theatre is set to be renamed to honor entertainer and civil rights activist Lena Horne, the Nederlander Organization announced Thursday.
This marks the first time a Black woman will have a theater named in her honor.
Horne, who worked onstage, in film and in music, became the first African-American woman to be nominated for a Tony Award in 1958. She won a special Tony Award later in her career for the year-long run of her show, “Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music,” which ran at the Nederlander Theatre in 1981. She passed away in 2010.
The theater, located at 246 West 47th Street, will be renamed the Lena Horne Theatre this fall.
“We are proud to take this moment to rename one of our theaters in honor of the great civil rights activist, actress, and entertainer Lena Horne,” said James L. Nederlander of The Nederlander Organization. “I am so honored to have known Lena. She became a part of our family over the years. It means so much to me that my father was the producer of Lena Horne: The Lady and Her Music, and it is my privilege, honor, and duty to memorialize Lena for generations to come.”
