Broadway actress Royana Black passes away from Leukemia at just 47 years of age
- The actress made her Broadway debut at just 10 years of age in Brighton Beach Memoirs alongside Matthew Broderick
- She passed on July 14 from Acute Myeloid Leukemia (AML) at just 47 years of age
- Family members said in her obituary that she ‘passed suddenly’ with a GoFundMe page set up to help her husband J.P. Hubbell
- She had starred in the TV sitcom Raising Miranda as a teenager and started theater companies in New York and Los Angeles
- She is survived by her husband Hubbell, who she married in 2009, and her mother and brother
The Broadway theater world is in mourning, with actress Royana Black having passed away at just 47 years of age.
The actress passed on July 14 in Los Angeles from AML (Acute Myeloid Leukemia), it was revealed in her obituary in the Daily Freeman.
A GoFundMe page was also set up for Black’s husband, actor John Paul ‘J.P. Hubbell, which revealed she passed, ‘very suddenly.’
R.I.P.: The Broadway theater world is in mourning, with actress Royana Black having passed away at just 47 years of age
The GoFundMe page was set up to to help cover, ‘the many expenses and financial difficulties arising from Royana’s passing.’
They have already more than doubled the original goal of $25,000 to cover these costs, with just over $53,000 donated so far.
Andy Hubbell, who organized the GoFundMe, said in an update they are, ‘equal parts humbled and shocked at the outpouring of generosity into this memorial fund
Funds: The GoFundMe page was set up to to help cover, ‘the many expenses and financial difficulties arising from Royana’s passing’
Black was born on March 1, 1973 at St. Francis Hospital in Poughkeepsie, New York, and she was raised in Esopus.
She caught the performing bug at an early age, cast as Laurie in Neil Simon’s Broadway play Brighton Beach Memoirs, when she was 10 years old, alongside a young Matthew Broderick.
Black attended Robert Grave’s Elementary School and Coleman High School, and starred as the title character on the CBS sitcom Raising Miranda at just 15.
Performer: She caught the performing bug at an early age, cast as Laurie in Neil Simon’s Broadway play Brighton Beach Memoirs, when she was 10 years old, alongside a young Matthew Broderick
She also had guest-starring spots on The Cosby Show and Touched By An Angel, and starred alongside Paul Sorvino in the TV movie Almost Partners.
Black graduated from Yale University in 1994, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Victorian Literature before moving back to New York City to start her own theatre company.
She would later move to Los Angeles where she became the Artistic Director and Chair of the Alliance Repertory Company.
Yale grad: Black graduated from Yale University in 1994, earning a Bachelor of Arts in Victorian Literature before moving back to New York City to start her own theatre company
Black married J.P. Hubbell in 2009, who she is survived by along with her mother Gloria Black of Florida, and her brother Robert J. Pereira Black of Kingston, New York.
Her family requested that donations be made in Royana Black’s memory to the Leukemia Fund.
Her family described Black as having, ‘an infectious smile and laugh which could light even the the darkest of days’ and being ‘a beautiful person inside and out.’
Survived: Black married J.P. Hubbell in 2009, who she is survived by along with her mother Gloria Black of Florida, and her brother Robert J. Pereira Black of Kingston, New York