Carl Cofield facts for kids
Carl Cofield is an American theatre director and actor. He has worked on many plays and television shows. He is known for his creative directing style, especially at the Classical Theatre of Harlem.
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Learning and Inspirations
Carl Cofield was part of the first group of students at the New World School of the Arts in Miami. He studied acting at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art for a summer. He earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts (BFA) degree in Acting from the University of Miami. Later, he earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree in Directing from Columbia University in 2014.
Music and hip-hop culture are big influences on Cofield's work. He has said that the poetry and rhythm of the music group Public Enemy were very important to him.
TV and Movies
When Carl Cofield was a child, he acted in commercials, TV shows, and movies. He appeared in almost a dozen Burger King commercials starting at age four. He was also in several Wise Cheez Doodles commercials.
He acted in the TV series Miami Vice in 1986 and 1988. He also appeared on Law & Order in 1993 and 1994. In both shows, he played different characters in different episodes. Cofield also had roles in Tyler Perry's House of Payne and the movie Mama, I Want to Sing!. He was in several other films and TV series too.
Theatre Work
Acting Roles
Carl Cofield has acted in many theatre productions. He toured with the Acting Company, playing Henry in Henry V. He performed in several plays at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. These roles included Orsino in Twelfth Night and Orlando in As You Like It.
He also acted at Shakespeare Santa Cruz. There, he played Laertes in Hamlet and Victor in Private Lives. At Arena Stage, he was Lymon in The Piano Lesson and Acaste in The Misanthrope.
Cofield played Morocco in The Merchant of Venice at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. He was Boy Willie in The Piano Lesson at the Indiana Repertory Theatre. He also played Barlow in Gem of the Ocean at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
Off-Broadway, he performed at the Manhattan Theatre Club in plays like Ruined and The Whipping Man. He also acted in shows at Duke on 42nd Street and the Lucille Lortel Theater.
Directing Plays
Carl Cofield has directed many plays across the country. In 2016, he directed The Mountaintop at Cleveland Playhouse. He directed Disgraced at Denver Center and A Raisin in the Sun at Two River Theatre. In 2017, he directed Henry IV, Part 2 at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival.
He directed the very first performance of One Night in Miami in Los Angeles in 2013. He directed this play again in Denver in 2015 and in Miami in 2018.
In 2019, he directed Radio Golf by August Wilson at Everyman Theatre, Baltimore. In 2020, he directed Cymbeline for The Public Theater's Mobile Unit. He also directed A Raisin in the Sun at Yale Repertory Theatre that same year.
His 2019 production of Twelfth Night at Yale Rep had a special "Afrofuturistic" look. In 2021, he directed King Lear at the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival. This play starred André De Shields and was set in Africa.
Classical Theatre of Harlem
In 2018, Carl Cofield became the Associate Artistic Director of the Classical Theatre of Harlem. This is a very important role.
In 2014, Cofield directed a special 50th-anniversary show of Amiri Baraka's Dutchman. This was a joint project with the National Black Theatre and the Classical Theatre of Harlem. His 2015 show of The Tempest was set in Hispaniola, which is a Caribbean island.
Cofield directed a production of Macbeth in 2016. He also directed Antigone in 2018. For his 2019 show of The Bacchae, people said he used the outdoor setting very well. He made the show exciting and brought the audience closer to the characters.
In 2021, Cofield directed Will Power's Seize the King. This play was a new version of Richard III. It was described as both grand and simple. Cofield's 2022 production of Twelfth Night was highly praised by The New York Times. They called it one of the best shows that year and praised his directing.
Helping the Arts
Carl Cofield has helped create many new theatre projects. In 2014, he directed plays for the 48 Hours in Harlem festival. This was through the National Black Theatre. In 2017, he directed six plays for the "Princeton and Slavery Plays" program. These plays were ordered by the McCarter Theatre at Princeton. In 2019, he directed The Kept Private, a documentary play, at Jeremy Davidson Storyhorse Theatre.
Teaching Others
Carl Cofield has taught acting and directing at several schools. He has taught at Theatre for a New Audience, Fredonia, York College, and Baruch College. He started teaching at The New School in 2015. In 2019, he began teaching at Columbia University.
From 2015 to 2018, Cofield taught at New York University. In 2021, it was announced that Cofield would become the Chair of Graduate Acting at New York University Tisch School of the Arts. This is a big leadership role for three years.
Martial Arts
Carl Cofield is also skilled in martial arts. He holds a Black Belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu.
Awards and Honors
Carl Cofield has received several awards for his directing work:
- 2022: AUDELCO Award, Best Director of a Play for Twelfth Night (Classical Theatre of Harlem)
- 2021: St. Louis Theatre Circle Award, Outstanding Director of a Drama for King Lear
- 2014: NAACP Theatre Award, Best Director - Local for One Night in Miami
- 2014: LA Weekly Award, Best Director (nominated)
- 2014: L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award
- AUDELCO Awards (nominated many times)
