Birth Dates of Notable Kentuckians: September 23, 1954 - George C. Wolfe

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(Accessed September 22, 2016) 

George Costello Wolfe (born September 23, 1954) is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk. He served as Artistic Director of The Public Theatre from 1993 until 2004. 

Early life and education

Wolfe was born in Frankfort, Kentucky, the son of Anna (née Lindsey), an educator, and Costello Wolfe, a government clerk.^[1] He attended an all-black private school where his mother taught. After a family move, he began attending the integrated Frankfort public school district. 

He attended Frankfort High School where he began to pursue his interest in the theatre arts, and wrote poetry and prose for the school's literary journal. After high school, Wolfe enrolled at the historically black Kentucky State University, the alma mater of his parents. Following his first year, he transferred to Pomona College in Claremont, California, where he pursued a BA in theater. Wolfe taught for several years in Los Angeles at the Inner City Cultural Center and later in New York City. He earned an MFA in dramatic writing and musical theater at New York University in 1983. 

Career

In 1977, Wolfe gave C. Bernard Jackson, the executive director of the Inner City Cultural Center in the Los Angeles, the first scene of a play he was working on. Rather than suggest that he finish writing it, Jackson said, "Here's some money, go do it." The name of the play was Tribal Rites, or The Coming of the Great God-bird Nabuku to the Age of Horace Lee Lizer. Wolfe stated in an article he wrote about Jackson for the Los Angeles Times that "this production was perhaps the most crucial to my evolution" as an artist.^[2] 

Among Wolfe's first major offerings—the musical Paradise (1985) and his play The Colored Museum (1986)--were off-Broadway productions that met with mixed reviews. In 1989, however, Wolfe won an Obie Award for best off-Broadway director for his play Spunk, an adaptation of three stories by Zora Neale Hurston. 

Wolfe gained a national reputation with his 1991 musical Jelly's Last Jam, a musical about the life of jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton; after a Los Angeles opening, the play moved to Broadway, where it received 11 Tony nominations and won the Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical. Two years later, Wolfe directed Tony Kushner's Angels in America: Millennium Approaches to great critical acclaim, as well as a Tony award. Wolfe also directed the world premiere of the second part of "Angels", entitled Perestroika, the following year. 

From 1993 to 2004, Wolfe served as artistic director and producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater, where in 1996 he created the musical Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk, an ensemble of tap and music starring Savion Glover; the show moved to Broadway's Ambassador Theatre. His work won a second Tony Award for direction and was an enormous financial success. 

In 2000, Wolfe co-wrote the book and directed the Broadway production The Wild Party.

In late 2004, Wolfe announced his intention to leave the theater for film direction, beginning with the well-received HBO film Lackawanna Blues. 

Despite this move, Wolfe continues to direct plays, such as Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change and Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog. In the summer of 2006, he directed a new translation of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children at the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park; it starred Meryl Streep, Kevin Kline, and Austin Pendleton. 

His latest movie, Nights in Rodanthe, opened in theatres in September 2008.

Wolfe is bringing his artistic talent to the design of the upcoming Center for Civil & Human Rights in Atlanta as its new chief creative officer. 

Wolfe is openly gay.^[3] 

In 2013, he was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame.^[4] 

Theater works

Broadway

Year	Title	Credit	Venue
1992	Jelly's Last Jam	Director, writer (book)	Virginia Theatre
1993	Angels in America: Millennium Approaches	Director, producer	Walter Kerr Theatre
1993	Angels in America: Perestroika	Director, producer	Walter Kerr Theatre
1994	Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992	Director, producer	Cort Theatre
1995	The Tempest	Director, producer	Broadhurst Theatre
1996	Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk	Director, producer, lyrics, idea	Ambassador Theatre
1998	Golden Child	Producer	Longacre Theatre
1998	On the Town	Director, producer	George Gershwin Theatre
2000	The Ride Down Mt. Morgan	Producer	Ambassador Theatre
2000	The Wild Party	Director, producer, writer (book)	Virginia Theatre
2002	Elaine Stritch At Liberty	Director, producer	Neil Simon Theatre
2002	Topdog / Underdog	Director, producer	Ambassador Theatre
2003	Take Me Out	Producer	Walter Kerr Theatre
2004	Caroline, or Change	Director, producer	Eugene O'Neill Theatre
2006	Mother Courage and Her Children	Director	Delacorte Theatre in Central Park
2011	The Normal Heart	Director	John Golden Theatre
2013	Lucky Guy	Director	Broadhurst Theatre
2016	Shuffle Along, or, the Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followed	Director, writer (book)	Music Box Theatre

Filmography

Year	Title	Credit	Role
1989	Trying Times (TV)	Writer (1 episode)	—
1993	Fires in the Mirror (TV)	Director	—
1994	Fresh Kill	Actor	Othello Yellow
2004	Garden State	Actor	restaurant manager
2005	Lackawanna Blues (TV)	Director	—
2006	The Devil Wears Prada	Actor	Paul
2008	Nights in Rodanthe	Director	—
2014	You're Not You	Director
TBA	The Hairball	Director, writer	—

References

1.    "George C. Wolfe Biography". filmreference. 2008. Retrieved 2008-05-28.

2.    Wolfe, George C. (1996-07-22). "Recalling C. Bernard Jackson's Gift". The Los Angeles Times. Retrieved 2010-12-10.

3.    Anne Stockwell (1 February 2005). "Wolfe's New Direction". The Advocate. Archived from the original on 2008-06-17. Retrieved 2008-05-28.

4.    "Cherry Jones, Ellen Burstyn, Cameron Mackintosh and More Inducted Into Broadway's Theater Hall of Fame". www.theatermania.com.

Selected Sources from UK Libraries:

Hurston, Zora Neale., George C. Wolfe, and Chic Street Man. Spunk : Three Tales. New York, N.Y. (440 Park Ave. S., New York 10016): Dramatists Play Service, 1992. Print.
Fine Arts Library Book Stacks (ML50.C537 S7 1992)

Wolfe, George C., Susan. Birkenhead, Jelly Roll Morton, and Luther Henderson. Jelly's Last Jam. 1st ed. New York: Theatre Communications Group, 1993. Print.
Fine Arts Library Book Stacks (ML50.Z99 J45 1993)

Bernstein, Robin. Cast out : Queer Lives in Theater. Ann Arbor: U of Michigan, 2006. Print. Triangulations.
Young Library Books - 4th Floor (PN1590.G39 C37 2006)