Woodie King Jr.

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 in New York City.^[1]

Woodie King Jr.
King at the 74th Tony Awards in 2021
Born	(1937-07-27) July 27, 1937 (age 88) Baldwin Springs, Alabama, U.S.
Education	Lehman College Brooklyn College
Occupation(s)	Director, producer

Early life and education

King was born in Baldwin Springs, Alabama, United States.^[2] He graduated high school in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, and worked at the Ford Motor Company there for three years. He then worked for the City of Detroit as a draftsman.

In 1970, he founded the New Federal Theatre.^[1] He earned a B.A. degree 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.^[2]

Credits

King has a long list of credits in film and stage direction and production, including the following:

Film

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1967	Sweet Love, Bitter	Performer		[3]
1972	Together for Days	Jerry		[3]
1973	Serpico	Larry		[3]
1976	The Long Night	Steely	Director; Film debut	[3]
2012	Men in Black 3	MIB HQ Guard		[3]
2015	Staten Island Summer	Mr. Stewart		[3]

Television

Year	Title	Role	Notes	Ref.
1968	N.Y.P.D.	Lewis	Episode: "Which Side Are You Own?"	[3]
1981	Death of a Prophet	—	Director; Television film	[3]
1983	Love to all, Lorraine	—	Director; Television film	[3]
1994	Law & Order	Clayton	Episode: "Wager"	[3]
2009	Law & Order: SVU	Parking Attendant	Episode: "Perverted"	[3]
2011	Treme	Performer	Episode: "Slip Away"	[3]
2014	Unforgettable	Barry	2 episodes	[3]

Theatre

Year	Title	Playwright	Venue	Ref.
1976	Sizwe Banzi Is Dead	Athol Fugard	Pittsburgh Public Theater
1989	God's Trombone	James Weldon Johnson	Ford's Theater
1987	Splendid Mummer	Lonne Elder	American Place Theatre; Arena Stage
1987–1988	Checkmates	Ron Milner	Inner City Cultural Center (Los Angeles)
1988	Checkmates	Ron Milner	46th Street Theatre, Broadway	[4]
1990	Joe Turner's Come and Gone	August Wilson	Detroit Repertory Theater
1992	The Member of the Wedding	Carson McCullers	Indiana Repertory Company
1993	Good Black Don't Crack	Rob Penny	Billie Holiday Theatre (Brooklyn)
1993	Checkmates	Ron Milner	St Louis Black Repertory Theatre
1994	A Raisin in the Sun	Lorraine Hansberry	Alliance Theater (Atlanta, Georgia)
1994	Mudtracks	Regina Taylor	The Ensemble Studio Theater
1995–1996	Checkmates	Ron Milner	New Federal Theatre	[1]
1995–1996	Eyes	Mari Evans	American Cabaret Theater, Indiana
1995–1996	Checkmates	Ron Milner	Bermuda International Theatre Festival
1996–1997	Joe Turner's Come and Gone	August Wilson	Brooklyn College
1996–1997	Home	Samm-Art Williams	Center Stage of Baltimore
1998–1999	Angels in America	Tony Kushner	Ohio State University
2000	James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire	Howard Simon	New York Shakespeare Festival
2012	The Piano Lesson	August Wilson	Seminole State College of Florida

Co-produced plays

• For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange
• What the Wine Sellers Buy
• Reggae
• The Taking of Miss Janie, by Ed Bullins, which earned the Drama Critics Circle Award

Awards and recognition

• 1985: Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Appear and Show Cause
• 1988: NAACP Image Award for directing Checkmates at the Inner City Cultural Center
• 1993: AUDELCO awards for Best Director and Best Play for Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil
• 1997: Obie Award for Sustained Achievement^[5]
• 2003: Paul Robeson Award
• 2005: Rosetta LeNoire Award from Actors' Equity Association^[6]
• 2011: Induction into American Theater Hall of Fame^[7]
• 2014: Theatre Legend Award, Atlanta Black Theatre Festival
• 2020: Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre^[8]

Bibliography

• Woodie King; Earl Anthony (1972). Black Poets and Prophets: The Theory, Practice, and Esthetics of the Pan-Africanist Revolution. New York: New American Library.
• Woodie King (1981). The Forerunners: Black Poets in America. Washington, D.C.: Howard University Press. ISBN 0-88258-093-0.
• Woodie King (1981). Black Theatre: Present Condition. New York: National Black Theatre Touring Circuit. ISBN 0-89062-133-0.
• Ron Milner; Woodie King (1986). Black Drama Anthology. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-452-00902-2.
• Woodie King (1989). New Plays for the Black Theatre. Chicago: Third World Press. ISBN 0-88378-124-7.
• Woodie King (1996). The National Black Drama Anthology: Eleven Plays from America's Leading African-American Theaters. Applause Theatre & Cinema Book Publishers. ISBN 1-55783-219-6.
• Woodie King Jr (2000). Voices of Color: 50 Scenes and Monologues by African American Playwrights (Applause Acting Series). New York: Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-174-2.
• Woodie King Jr (2004). The Impact of Race. New York: Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-579-9.
• Chuck Smith; Woodie King; Leslie Lee; Mark Clayton Southers; Kim Euell; Lisa Ebright (2007). Best Black Plays: the Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press. ISBN 978-0-8101-2390-8.