FOUNDER & ARTISTIC DIRECTOR HINTON BATTLE THEATRE LABORATORY Three TONY AWARDS * NAACP AWARD * THE FRED ASTAIRE AWARD * IRA ALDRIDGE AWARD *CHOREOGRAPHER MEDIA AWARD Hinton received his first Tony for the Broadway show Sophisticated Ladies, followed by Tony wins for Miss Saigon and The Tap Dance Kid. He is also the proud recipient of the NAACP Image Award, The Fred Astaire Award, and Ira Aldridge Award from the Black Theater Alliance of Chicago for his work. At age 16, Battle made his Broadway debut acting, singing, and dancing starring as The Scarecrow in The Wiz, which launched a very successful career on the New York Broadway stage. Hinton went on to star in such shows as Dancin’, Dreamgirls, Chicago, and the Chicago production of Ragtime, portraying Coalhouse Walker, Jr. Adding comedy to his many talents, he appeared in his one-man show, Shine for HBO’s U.S. Comedy Arts Festival in Aspen, Colorado. Hinton’s special guest performances includes Elton John’s Circle of Life at the Academy Awards’, Night of 100 Stars, The Golden Globe, Tony Awards, Grammy Awards, Dennis Miller Show, The Merv Griffin Show, President Regan’s Inauguration, Thelonious Monk Jazz Festival at the White House, Kennedy Center’s 25th Anniversary, and Gregory Hines’ Tap Dance in America. As a film actor, Hinton has had the pleasure of sharing the screen with Elizabeth Taylor, Shirley MacLaine, Joan Collins and Debbie Reynolds in the telefilm These Old Broads, portraying Wayne in the film Dreamgirls the legendary Bill
Bojangles
Robinson in the ABC biopic Child Star: The Shirley Temple Story, and the evil dance master, Sweet, in Buffy the Vampire Slayer to name a few. In addition, Battle is the founder and artistic director of The Hinton Battle Theater Laboratory (HBTL), a non-profit organization dedicated to producing thought-provoking, original theatrical works that engage both economically and ethnically diverse audiences. HBTL’s mission is simple yet essential: Diversity in Theater. In support of HBTL and the HBTL Youth Academy, Universal Studios, HBO, and Mosaic Media’s World Premiere of Idlewild at the Zeigfeld Theatre in New York City was the benefit for his organization. As director/choreographer, Hinton credits include associate choreographer of the Academy Awards’ and commissioned choreographer for Baltimore School of the Arts, Washington reflections dance company, philadanco, and soon to choreograph for and Alvin Ailey II. He is the creator of SWOP, a mixture of swing and hip hop a dance style featured in the film Idlewild and television show Dancing With The Stars. host Tom Bergeron was quoted as saying, “SWOP is Dancing With-Out Wings.” This energetic director/choreographer had three box office smashes running simultaneously across North America, the musical adaptation of Sam Raimi’s Evil Dead, at the Diesel Theatre in Toronto Canada, and New Yorks Off-Broadway and the award nominated Respect A Musical Journey of Women at the Gem Theater in Detroit. Hinton just completed choreographing two-feature films, Bolden, and The Great Observer with original music by jazz great Wynton Marsalis. Hinton is excited to announce the comedy with music he’s written, That’s My Man, will tour American’s urban market 2009 and will star Stephanie Mills.