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Woodie King, Jr., founder of New Federal Theatre and a prolific producer and director who dedicated more than five decades to providing opportunities for minorities and women in the performing arts, died January 29 at Weill Cornell Medical Center of complications from emergency heart surgery. He was 88.
In 2020, the Off-Broadway Alliance named him a “Legend of Off Broadway,” recognizing his sustained achievement in Off Broadway theater. That same year, his New Federal Theatre received the Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre. He was hailed by theater arts journalists as “the Renaissance Man of Black Theatre.”
In recent years, King was the subject of biographical documentaries including “The King of Stage: the Woodie King, Jr. Story,” directed by Juney Smith, and TCG’s “Legacy Leaders of Color” video project. His numerous awards included an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement, TCG’s Peter Zeisler Award, AEA’s Paul Robeson Award, AEA’s Rosetta LeNoire Award, an Honorary Doctorate in Humane Letters from Wayne State University, a Doctorate of Fine Arts from the College of Wooster, and Honorary Doctorates from Lehman College and John Jay College of Criminal Justice. In 2012, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and received the Innovative Theatre Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatre.
Woodie King, Jr. was born in Bladon Springs, Alabama to parents Ruby and Woodie King, Sr. The family migrated to Detroit, where Woodie spent his childhood. He graduated from Cass Tech high school in 1956 and worked for Ford Motor Company as an arc welder for three years. In 1959, he joined the city of Detroit as a draftsman. But Detroit could not hold him.
He attended college in New York City, first earning his Bachelor’s degree from Lehman College and later his M.F.A. from Brooklyn College. In 1965, King joined Mobilization for Youth, where he spent the next five years as cultural director.
In 1970, he founded New Federal Theatre to give voice to primarily African American playwrights, actors, directors, designers and young people entering the American theater. Its stated mission was “to integrate artists of color and women into the mainstream of American theater by training artists for the profession and by presenting plays by writers of color and women to integrated, multicultural audiences—plays which evoke the truth through beautiful and artistic re-creations of ourselves.”
To date, the organization has produced over 450 mainstage plays, an astonishing and influential record of achievement. Multiple productions transferred to Broadway, launching numerous minority and women playwrights and actors into prominent careers.
Since 1975, the company has also conducted training workshops in playwriting and drama for adults and teens. This powerhouse program’s contributions have not yet been fully appreciated, although many of its alumni are now legendary.
Mr. King’s theater and its workshops helped bring to national attention such playwrights as Ed Bullins, Amiri Baraka, J.e Franklin, Ntozake Shange, David Henry Hwang, Ron Milner, Joseph Lizardi, Damien Leake, Genny Lim, Laurence Holder and Alexis DeVeaux, among others.
Actor veterans include Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Debbie Allen, Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Chadwick Boseman, Robert Downey, Jr., Ruby Dee, Leslie Uggams, Jackée Harry, Phylicia Rashad, Dick Anthony Williams, Glynn Turman, Taurean Blacque, Garrett Morris, Sam MacMurray, Debbie Morgan, Lynn Whitfield, Reginald Vel-Johnson, Vondie Curtis-Hall, Ella Joyce, Starletta DuPois, S. Epatha Merkerson, Oz Scott, Trazana Beverley, Anna Maria Horsford, and many more.
Other noted artists who worked at New Federal Theatre include Lloyd Richards, Charles Nelson Reilly, Melba Moore, Vinie Burrows, Art McFarland, Kathleen Chalfant, Earle Hyman, Roger Robinson, Ellen Holly, Giancarlo Esposito, William “Mickey” Stevenson, Max Roach, and Shauneille Perry.
New Federal Theatre (NFT) was originally inspired by a deep study of the original Federal Theatre Project and the vision of its leaders including Hallie Flanagan, Orson Welles and John Houseman. But the theater’s artistic focus has always been on issues of the “now.” This is reflected in recent seasons by productions including “Zora Neale Hurston: A Theatrical Biography,” “Harriet’s Return: Based Upon the Legendary Life of Harriet Tubman,” “Freight: The Five Incarnations of Abel Green” and “Looking for Leroy,” a theatrical portrait of Amiri Baraka which won six AUDELCO Awards in the 2019 season.
Mr. King had three children with his first wife, teacher and casting agent Willie Mae Washington: Woodie Geoffrey King (Nyack, NY), Michael King (Hartford, CT), and Michelle King Huger (NYC), who collectively gave him five grandchildren.
At the beginning of the Covid pandemic, as NFT embraced the digital world and began adapting creatively to it, Mr. King began collaborating in leadership of the company with his wife, actress/director/producer Elizabeth Van Dyke, who was appointed Artistic Director in 2020. Mr. King retained the role of Producing Director until 2021, after which he continued serving on NFT’s Board.
The organization will continue to be known as Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre.
Memorial contributions can be made to Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre.
