National Black Theatre Festival leader Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin has died

Sylvia Sprinkle-Hamlin, who succeeded her late husband as board chairman and executive producer of the National Black Theatre Festival, has died. She was 76.

A news release from the North Carolina Black Repertory Company said Hamlin died on Monday. The family declined to give the cause of death.

Sprinkle-Hamlin took the leadership position following the death of Larry Leon Hamlin, who founded the company and produced its first festival in 1989. Hamlin died in 2007.

Sprinkle-Hamlin worked for 40 years with the Forsyth County Public Library, becoming its first Black and female director. She retired in 2019.

Funeral arrangements were incomplete late Tuesday.