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. ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the Un ...

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 t ...

Michigan Michigan () is a U.S. state, state in the Great Lakes region, Great Lakes region of the Upper Midwest, upper Midwestern United States. With a population of nearly 10.12 million and an area of nearly , Michigan is the List of U.S. states and ...

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 territori ...

, 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

. He earned a B.A. in Self-Determined Studies, with a focus on Theatre and Black Studies, at Lehman College in 1996, and an M.F.A. at Brooklyn College 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

*''

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf ''for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf'' is Ntozake Shange's first work and most acclaimed theater piece, which premiered in 1976. It consists of a series of poetic monologues to be accompanied by dance moveme ...

'' 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 sta ...

nomination for ''Appear and Show Cause'' *1988: NAACP Image Award 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 awa ...

awards for Best Director and Best Play for ''Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil'' *1997: Obie Award 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 Belafo ...

*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

* * * * * * * * *

References

External links

Historymakers Biography

The New Federal Theater in New York
br>see also inspiring purposes of previous 20th-century African-American theatre projects:
Federal Theatre Project,

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. ...

Rosetta LeNoire Award

Theatre 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