George Wolfe Highlights

  • 2005: Directed first feature, the HBO original movie "Lackawanna Blues," based on Ruben Santiago-Hudson's play that centers around a boarding house in Lackawanna, New York; earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best First Feature
  • 2001: Helmed the stage play "Topdog/Underdog"
  • 2000: Co-wrote (with Michael John LaChiusa) the libretto for "The Wild Party", the second of two musicals bowing that year based on the Jazz Age poem by Joseph Moncure March; also directed
  • 1998: Underwent kidney transplant on March 24
  • 1998: Produced Arthur Miller's "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan", starring Stewart, at the Public Theatre; show remounted on Broadway in 2000
  • 1997: Directed the Public's Central Park revival of "On the Town", dropping Jerome Robbins' signature choreography; production moved indoors in 1998 with new choreography but failed to impress critics or audiences
  • 1997: Profiled in PBS documentary, "Signature: George C. Wolfe"
  • 1997: Fire destroyed home in Greenwich Village
  • 1996: Helmed NYSF Central Park production of "The Tempest", starring Patrick Stewart; restaged production on Broadway for a critically-acclaimed limited run; earned Tony nod as Director of a Play
  • 1996: Won second Tony Award for helming the musical "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk", starring Savion Glover
  • 1995: Served as producer of Michael John LaChiusa's musical "The Petrified Prince"
  • 1994: Helmed the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) production of Oliver Mayer's "Blade to the Heat", a flawed look into the Hispanic boxing community of the 1950s
  • 1994: Reteamed with Anna Deveare Smith to stage her acclaimed "Twilight: Los Angeles 1992", examining the aftermath of the Rodney King beating in L.A.
  • 1994: Had a cameo as a cat lover in Shu Lea Cheang's straight-to-video, experimental, sci-fi feature "Fresh Kill"
  • 1993: Assumed leadership of the Public Theatre, replacing Papp's hand-picked successor JoAnne Akalaitis after her troubled 20-month tenure; became first person in its history other than Papp to have the title of producer
  • 1993: Became first black director of a Broadway production that was not black-themed, Tony Kushner's "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches"; won Tony for his direction
  • 1993: Staged the second half of Kushner's epic "Angels in America: Perestroika"; garnered a 1994 Tony nod for Direction of a Play
  • 1993: Directed "Fires in the Mirror", an "American Playhouse" (PBS) adaptation of Anna Deveare Smith's play chronicling the racial tensions that escalated in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in the summer of 1992 when an automobile driven by a Hasidic man jumped the curb and killed a seven-year-old black child
  • 1992: Staged a revised version of "Jelly's Last Jam" on Broadway, with Gregory Hines in the lead; earned Tony nominations for Book of a Musical and as Director of a Musical; also directed the behind-the-scenes PBS special "Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway
  • 1991: Appeared as himself in docudrama "Finding Christa"
  • 1991: Wrote book and staged the biographical musical "Jelly's Last Jam", about jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum; lead role played by Obba Babatunde
  • 1991: Last play produced (to date), "Blackout"
  • 1991: Co-directed and adapted "The Colored Museum" for PBS' "Great Performances"
  • 1990: Named by Public Theatre founder Joseph Papp as one of its three resident directors along with David Greenspan and Michael Grief
  • 1990: "Spunk" restaged at NYC's Public Theater
  • 1989: Wrote "Hunger Chic", a 30-minute comedy directed by Buck Henry, broadcast as part of the PBS anthology series "Trying Times"
  • 1989: Adapted three stories of Zora Neale Hurston as "Spunk", produced at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum
  • 1986: Authored libretto of "Queenie Pie". Duke Ellington's unfinished musical; left project over "creative differences" with producers
  • 1986: Penned the episodic play with music "The Colored Museum", also wrote lyrics; opened to rave reviews at the Public Theatre's Susan Stein Shiva Theatre; engendered some controversy, however, in the black community for its skewering of stereotypes; reportedly several actors refused to audition for roles
  • 1985: Wrote book and lyrics for musical flop, "Paradise!"; produced at Playwrights Horizons
  • 1979: Relocated to NYC
  • 1978: Penned play with music "Back Alley Tales", produced at the Inner City Cultural Center in L.A.
  • 1978: Directed "Summer Suns/Tales of Night" at the Inner City Cultural Center
  • 1976: Second play, "Block Party", produced
  • 1975: Had first successes as playwright with "Up for Grabs" while still enrolled in college
  • 1967: Accompanied mother to NYC the summer before turning 13 while she was working on her doctorate in education at New York University
  • Taught at City College of New York and the Richard Allen Center for Cultural Art
  • Raised in Frankfort, Kentucky
  • Enrolled in summer theater program at Miami University (in Oxford, Ohio) where his mother was continuing her doctoral work; got rid of his stutter
  • Taught acting in Los Angeles while directing and writing plays for small theaters; spent three years working at Los Angeles' Inner City Cultural Center

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