The New Federal Theatre
Woodie King Jr.
Biography
Award-winning theater director Woodie King, Jr., was born on July 27, 1937, in Baldwin Springs, Alabama, to parents Ruby and Woodie King, Sr. Attending high school in Detroit, King graduated in 1956; he then went on to attend Leman College in New York, and later earned his M.F.A. degree from Brooklyn College.
Following his high school graduation in 1956, King worked for Ford Motor Company as an arc welder for three years. In 1959, King went to work for the city of Detroit as a draftsman. In 1965, King joined Mobilization for Youth, where he spent the next five years working as the cultural director.
In 1970, King founded the New Federal Theatre and the National Black Touring Circuit in New York City, where he remained as producing director throughout his career. King produced shows both on and off-Broadway, and directed performances across the country in venues such as the New York Shakespeare Festival; the Cleveland Playhouse; Center Stage of Baltimore; and the Pittsburgh Public Theatre. King’s work earned him numerous nominations and awards over the years, including a 1988 NAACP Image Award for his direction of Checkmates, and 1993 Audelco Awards for Best Director and Best Play for his production of Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil; he also received an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement.
King was awarded an honorary doctorate in humane letters from Wayne State University, and a doctorate of fine arts from the College of Wooster.
(1998) – Prof. Dale Shields (Department of Theatre and Black Studies) and Dr. Woodie King at The College of Wooster as Woodie receives his Ph.D. from Dr. Stanton Hales (President) and Dr. Richard Figgie (Chair of the Honorary Degree Committee)
In addition to his directing and producing of theater, King wrote extensively about the theater industry; he contributed to numerous magazines, such as Black World, Variety, and The Tulane Drama Review, as well as authoring a number of books.
The History Makers
Independent of the Negro Ensemble Company, several African American playwrights had played successfully produced on Broadway. Ntozake Shange’s widely acclaimed For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow Is Enuf (1977) had a cast of seven African American actresses including Trazana Beverley, the first African American actress to win a Tony for Best Featured Actress in Play. Twenty-seven years later, Phylicia Rashad was the first and only African American woman to win Best Actress in a Play for the 2004 revival of A Raisin in the Sun.
James Earl Jones was the first African American man to win a Tony for Best Actor in 1969 forThe Great White Hope. Jones won his second Tony for Best Actor in 1987 for Fences by August Wilson. Actors who have also won Tonys for their roles in an August Wilson play are Lawrence Fishburne (Two Trains Running), Ruben Santiago-Hudson (Seven Guitars), Mary Alice (Fences), L Scott Caldwell (Joe Turner’s Come and Gone) and Viola Davis (King Hedley II). Lloyd Richards also won a Tony for Best Direction (Fences).
Hailed as one the most celebrated and prolific American playwrights, August Wilson garnered countless nominations and numerous awards for his cycle of ten plays which chronicled the experiences of African Americans in each decade of the twentieth century. Eight out the ten plays were produced on Broadway including Fences, which won the 1987 Pulitzer Prize in Drama, the Tony Award for Best Play and the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play. In 1990, The Piano Lesson earned Wilson his second Pulitzer Prize and Drama Desk Award.
He also received the New York Drama Critic’s Award for Best Play for Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom (1985), Fences (1987), Joe Turner’s Come and Gone (1988), The Piano Lesson (1990), Two Trains Running(1992), Seven Guitars (1996) and Jitney (2000).
Before his untimely death in 2005, Wilson completed his cycle of plays with Broadway productions of King Hedley II, Gem of the Ocean and a Yale Repertory Theater production of his last play, Radio Golf, which is scheduled to open on Broadway in 2007. Wilson was one of the strongest voices in American theatre and his influence laid the groundwork for many of the resonant voices in the twenty-first century.
Suzan-Lori Parks’s Topdog/Underdog won the 2002 Pulitzer Prize in Drama under the direction of George C. Wolfe. In November of 2002, Parks committed to writing a play a day for the next 365 days which has resulted in the 365/Days /365 Plays National Festival. From November 2006 to November 2007, the Festival will present the plays in over 60 select theatre companies across the country, simultaneously. This constitutes the largest collaboration in American theatre history.
Other award-winning and emerging playwrights include Lynn Nottage (Intimate Apparel, Crumbs from the Table of Joy), Regina Taylor (Dreams of Sarah Breedlove, Crowns), Cheryl L. West (Birdie Blue, Jar the Floor) Keith Glover (Coming of the Hurricane, Thunder Knocking On The Door) Kia Corthron (Breath, Boom, Come DownBurning), Charles Randolph-White (Cuttin’ Up, Blue), Sarah Jones (Bridge and Tunnel), Tanya Barfield (Blue Door) Daniel Beatty (Emergence-See!), Marcus Gardley (Dance of the Holy Ghosts) and Javon Johnson (The House That Jack Built).
AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSICALS INTO THE TWENTY-FIRST CENTURY
Between 1898 and 1911, 13 all-black musicals opened on Broadway. The performances showcased the talents of Ernest Hogan and the comic-dance duo of George Walker and Bert Williams. But for nearly a decade after the close of His Honor the Barber, the Broadway stage did not carry any all-black musicals.
On May 23, 1921, Shuffle Along signaled the return of Black musicals to “The Great White Way” and the arrival of the Harlem Renaissance on the American stage. Featuring the talented singer-dancer Florence Mills, Shuffle Along was written by Noble Sissle, Eubie Blake, Flournoy Miller, and Aubrey Lyles. Mills quickly became a sought-after performer, appearing in The Plantation Revue, which opened on Broadway on July 17, 1922, and later toured England. In 1926, Mills returned to Harlem and played the lead in Blackbirds at the Alhambra Theatre for a six-week run. Subsequently, Mills performed in Paris for six months.
Noble Sissle and Eubie Blake returned to Broadway on September 24, 1924, with their new musical Chocolate Dandies. In 1926, Flournoy Miller and Aubrey Lyles opened on Broadway in Runnin’ Wild, which introduced the Charleston to the country. Bill “Bojangles” Robinson, starring in Blackbirds of 1928, dazzled Broadway audiences with his exciting tap dancing style. Miller and Lyles mounted several other black musicals on Broadway during the 1920s, including Rang Tang (1927) and Keep Shufflin’(1928), with musical numbers staged by Harlem’s preeminent choreographer Leonard Harper. Harper conceived and staged Hot Chocolates in 1929 with music composed by Fats Waller and lyrics by Andy Razaf. Hot Chocolates introduced the songs “Ain’t Misbehavin”’ and “Black and Blue,” as well as Broadway newcomers Cab Calloway and Louis Armstrong.
When Porgy and Bess opened on Broadway in 1935, it became the major all-Black musical production of the 1930s. With music by George Gershwin, this adaptation of the novel and play by DuBose and Dorothy Heyward was an immediate success as a folk opera. Todd Duncan was cast as Porgy with Ann Brown as Bess and comedian-dancer John Bubbles as the character, Sportin’ Life.
In the 1940s, Black musicals were once again scarce on Broadway. Cabin in the Sky, starring Ethel Waters, Dooley Wilson, Todd Duncan, Rex Ingram, J. Rosamond Johnson, Katherine Dunham, and her dancers, ran for 165 performances after it opened on October 25, 1940. Carmen Jones, perhaps the most successful all-black musical of the decade, opened in 1943 with Luther Saxon, Napoleon Reed, Carlotta Franzel, and Cozy Cove. It ran for 231 performances and was taken on tour. In 1946, St. Louis Woman, featuring Rex Ingram, Pearl Bailey, Juanita Hall, and June Hawkins, played a short run to mixed reviews.
The years from 1961 to the mid-1980s constituted one of the most active periods for African American performers in musical theater. Many of the black musicals produced during these years, both on and Off-Broadway, enjoyed substantial runs and extended road tours.
Langston Hughes’s musical Black Nativity opened on Broadway on December 11, 1961. Directed by Vinnette Carroll, the cast was headed by gospel singers Marion Williams and the Stars of Faith and also featured Alex Bradford, Clive Thompson, Cleo Quitman, and Carl Ford. Although it ran for only 57 performances on Broadway, it went on to tour extensively throughout the United States and abroad.
In 1964, Sammy Davis Jr. dazzled Broadway in Clifford Odets’s Golden Boy. Davis was supported by a brilliant cast which included Robert Guillaume, Louis Gossett Jr., Lola Falana, and Billy Daniels.
Leslie Uggams and Robert Hooks appeared in Hallelujah Baby, which opened in New York’s Martin Beck Theater on April 26, 1967.
Hallelujah Baby, a musical look at five decades of Black history, received a five Tony Awards including Best Actor/Actress for Hooks and Uggams and Best Featured Actress for Lillian Hayman.
Purlie, based on Ossie Davis’ 1961 play Purlie Victorious, opened on May 9, 1970, with Melba Moore and Cleavon Little in lead roles. Purlie received good reviews. Little won Best Actor and Moore won Best Featured Actress.
Micki Grant’s Don’t Bother Me, I Can’t Cope, starring Micki Grant and Alex Bradford, opened on April 19, 1972, to rave reviews. Grant received a Drama Desk Award and an Obie Award.
Virginia Capers, Joe Morton, and Helen Martin opened in Raisin, based on Lorraine Hansberry’s play Raisin in the Sun, on October 13, 1973. Raisin received the Tony Award for the Best Musical in 1974 and Capers won Best Actress.
Despite initially poor reviews, The Wiz, a Black musical version of The Wizard of Oz, became a highly successful show. Opening on Broadway on January 5, 1975, The Wiz featured an array of talented performers including Stephanie Mills, Hinton Battle, Ted Ross, André De Shields, Dee Dee Bridgewater, and Mabel King. The Wiz swept the Tony Award ceremonies in 1975 winning seven awards including Best Musical. The creative team was honored too. Geoffrey Holder and George Faison won Best Director and Best Choreographer, respectively. It was one of the longest-running Black musicals in the history of Broadway with 1,672 performances.
Ain’t Misbehavin’, another popular Black musical of the 1970s, opened on May 8, 1978. Based on a cavalcade of songs composed by Thomas “Fats” Waller, Ain’t Misbehavin’ starred Nell Carter, André De Shields, Armelia McQueen, Ken Page, and Charlaine Woodard. It played to Broadway audiences for 1,604 performances and Nell Carter received a Tony Award as Best Featured Actress.
Three spectacular Black musicals premiered on Broadway in the 1980s. Dreamgirls, which opened at the Imperial Theater on December 20, 1981, captivated Broadway audiences with a cast that included Obba Babatunde, Ben Harney, Cleavant Derricks, Loretta Devine, Jennifer Holiday, and Sheryl Lee Ralph. Dreamgirls ran for 1,522 performances on Broadway and had an extensive road tour. Ben Harney and Jennifer Holiday won Tony Awards for Best Actor/Actress and Cleavant Derricks won for Best Featured Actor. In 2006, Dreamgirls was adapted into a film starring, Beyonce Knowles, Jennifer Hudson and Anika Noni Rose—a Tony Award winner for Best Featured Actress in Caroline, Or Change (2004)
In 1986, Debbie Allen opened in the lead role of Sweet Charity. Reviews were favorable and the show established Debbie Allen as a musical theatre actress. Black and Blue opened in 1989 at the Minskoff Theatre. The show was reminiscent of a 1920’s musical revue, spotlighting the illustrious composers of that era. Black and Blue won three Tony Awards including Best Actress for the blues singer, Ruth Brown.
A few new all-black musicals opened in the early 1990s. Five Guys Named Moe was a tribute to musician Louis Jordan, written by Clarke Peters and directed by Charles Augin. Once On This Island told a star-crossed love story set in the French Antilles. The popular musical earned eight 1991 Tony nominations and launched the career of 2006 Tony Award winner, LaChanze. Jelly’s Last Jam was the brainchild of writer/director, George C. Wolfe. The imaginative tribute to Jelly Roll Morton was a commercial success and received 11 Tony nominations. Tonya Pinkins won a Tony Award for Best Featured Actress and Gregory Hines, as Jelly Roll Morton, won the Tony for Best Actor in 1992.
The monumental hit Bring in ’Da Noise, Bring in ’Da Funk opened in 1995. Starring young tap wizard Savion Glover and directed by George C. Wolfe, Noise/Funk celebrated 300 years of African American history in poetry, music, song, and dance. The musical won four 1996 Tony Awards, including Best Choreographer for Glover, Best Director for Wolfe, and Best Featured Actress for Ann Duquesnay in her role as ’Da Singer.
