This week: A salute to African American poet Langston Hughes, a classic Clifford Odets drama, and “Rent” rolls into Costa Mesa on its 20th-anniversary tour.

One piece, about Langston Hughes, opens with a series of assertions that still seem dreadfully pertinent.

And, embodying the event’s essence, Tyson ended her acceptance speech with a powerful recitation of Langston Hughes’ poem “Mother to Son.”