Woodie King Jr. (born July 27, 1937) is an American director and producer of stage and screen, as well as the founding director of the
New Federal Theatre
The New Federal Theatre is a theatre company named after the African-American branch of the Federal Theatre Project, which was created in the United States during the Great Depression to provide resources for theatre and other artistic programs. ...
in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
.
Early life and education
King was born in Baldwin Springs, Alabama.
He graduated high school in 1956 in
Detroit
Detroit ( , ; , ) is the largest city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is also the largest U.S. city on the United States–Canada border, and the seat of government of Wayne County. The City of Detroit had a population of 639,111 at th ...
,
Michigan
Michigan () is a state in the Great Lakes region of the upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the 10th-largest state by population, the 11th-largest by area, and the ...
,
United States
The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territorie ...
, and worked at the
Ford Motor Company
Ford Motor Company (commonly known as Ford) is an American multinational automobile manufacturer headquartered in Dearborn, Michigan, United States. It was founded by Henry Ford and incorporated on June 16, 1903. The company sells automobi ...
there for three years. He then worked for the City of Detroit as a draftsman.
In 1970, he founded the
New Federal Theatre
The New Federal Theatre is a theatre company named after the African-American branch of the Federal Theatre Project, which was created in the United States during the Great Depression to provide resources for theatre and other artistic programs. ...
.
He earned a B.A. in Self-Determined Studies, with a focus on Theatre and Black Studies, at
Lehman College
Lehman College is a public college in the Bronx borough of New York City. Founded in 1931 as the Bronx campus of Hunter College, the school became an independent college within CUNY in September 1967. The college is named after Herbert H. Lehma ...
in 1996, and an M.F.A. at
Brooklyn College
Brooklyn College is a public university in Brooklyn, Brooklyn, New York. It is part of the City University of New York system and enrolls about 15,000 undergraduate and 2,800 graduate students on a 35-acre campus.
Being New York City's first publ ...
in 1999.
Film and stage direction
King has a long list of credits in film and stage direction and production, including the following:
Co-produced plays
*''
'' by
Ntozake Shange
Ntozake Shange ( ;
FilmReference.com. Retrieved October 27, 2018. October 18, 1948 – October 27, 2018) ...
*''What the Wine Sellers Buy''
*''Reggae''
*''The Taking of Miss Janie'', which earned the Drama Critics Circle Award
Awards and recognition
*1985:
Joseph Jefferson Award
The Joseph Jefferson Award, more commonly known informally as the Jeff Award, is given for theatre arts produced in the Chicago area. Founded in 1968, the awards are named in tribute to actor Joseph Jefferson, a 19th-century American theater star ...
nomination for ''Appear and Show Cause''
*1988:
NAACP Image Award
The NAACP Image Awards is an annual awards ceremony presented by the U.S.-based National Association for the Advancement of Colored People (NAACP) to honor outstanding performances in film, television, theatre, music, and literature. Similar to ...
for directing ''Checkmates'' at the Inner City Cultural Center
*1993:
AUDELCO
AUDELCO, the Audience Development Committee, Inc., was established in 1973 by Vivian Robinson to honor excellence in African American theatre in New York City.
AUDELCO presents the Vivian Robinson/AUDELCO Recognition Awards (also known as Viv awar ...
awards for Best Director and Best Play for ''Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil''
*1997:
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
for Sustained Achievement
*2003:
Paul Robeson Award An award bestowed by the Paul Robeson Citation Award Committee of the Actors' Equity Association.
Recipients
* 1974: Paul Robeson
* 1975: Ossie Davis & Ruby Dee
* 1976: Lillian Hellman
* 1977: Pete Seeger
* 1978: Sam Jaffe
* 1979: Harry Belafon ...
*2005: Rosetta LeNoire Award
*2011: Induction into
American Theater Hall of Fame
The American Theater Hall of Fame in New York City was founded in 1972. Earl Blackwell was the first head of the organization's Executive Committee. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the ...
*2014: Theatre Legend Award
Atlanta Black Theatre Festival
Works
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References
External links
Historymakers BiographyThe New Federal Theater in New Yorkbr>see also inspiring purposes of previous 20th-century African-American theatre projects:
Federal Theatre Project
The Federal Theatre Project (FTP; 1935–1939) was a theatre program established during the Great Depression in the United States, Great Depression as part of the New Deal to fund live artistic performances and entertainment programs in the United ...
,
American Negro Theater
The American Negro Theatre (ANT) was co-founded on June 5, 1940 by playwright Abram Hill and actor Frederick O'Neal. Determined to build a "people's theatre", they were inspired by the Federal Theatre Project's Negro Unit in Harlem and by W. E. B ...
Rosetta LeNoire AwardTheatre Hall of Fame induction
{{DEFAULTSORT:King, Woodie
1937 births
20th-century African-American people
African-American theater directors
American theatre directors
American theatre managers and producers
Brooklyn College alumni
Living people
People from Baldwin County, Alabama