George C. Wolfe facts for kids

Quick facts for kids George C. Wolfe
Wolfe in 2013
Born	George Costello Wolfe (1954-09-23) September 23, 1954 (age 70) Frankfort, Kentucky, U.S.
Education	Kentucky State University Pomona College (BA) New York University (MFA)
Occupation	playwright, director
Awards	Full list

George Costello Wolfe (born September 23, 1954) is an American writer and director for plays and movies. He has won many awards, including two Tony Awards. These awards were for directing the play Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and the musical Bring in 'da Noise/Bring in 'da Funk. He was also the Artistic Director of The Public Theater from 1993 to 2004.

Early Life and Education

Wolfe was born in Frankfort, Kentucky. His mother, Anna, was a teacher, and his father, Costello, worked for the government. He went to an all-black public school called a Rosenwald school, where his mother taught. He talked about his time at this school in a film called Rosenwald. Later, his family moved, and he started going to integrated public schools in Frankfort.

Wolfe attended Frankfort High School. There, he started to explore his interest in theater. He also wrote poems and stories for the school's literary magazine. After high school, Wolfe went to Kentucky State University. This is a historically black college that both his parents had attended. After his first year, he transferred to Pomona College in Claremont, California. He earned a Bachelor of Arts (BA) degree in theater there. Wolfe then taught for several years in Los Angeles at the Inner City Cultural Center.

He later moved to the East Coast and taught in New York City. In 1983, he earned a Master of Fine Arts (MFA) degree. This degree was in dramatic writing and musical theater from New York University.

George C. Wolfe's Career Highlights

In 1977, Wolfe showed the first part of a play he was writing to C. Bernard Jackson. Jackson was the director of the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Instead of telling him to finish it, Jackson gave him money and told him to produce it. The play was called Tribal Rites, or The Coming of the Great God-bird Nabuku to the Age of Horace Lee Lizer. Wolfe later said this production was very important for him as an artist.

Some of Wolfe's first big works were the musical Paradise (1985) and his play The Colored Museum (1986). These were performed off-Broadway, meaning in smaller theaters. In 1990, Wolfe won an Obie Award for directing Spunk. This play was based on three stories by Zora Neale Hurston.

Wolfe became well-known across the country with his 1991 musical Jelly's Last Jam. This musical was about the life of jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton. After opening in Los Angeles, the show moved to Broadway. It received 11 Tony nominations and won an award for its script. Two years later, Wolfe directed Tony Kushner's Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. This play was highly praised, and Wolfe won a Tony Award for directing it. He also directed the second part of Angels, called Perestroika, the next year.

From 1993 to 2004, Wolfe was the artistic director and producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater. In 1996, he created the musical Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk. This show featured amazing tap dancing and music, starring Savion Glover. The show moved to Broadway's Ambassador Theatre. Wolfe won a second Tony Award for directing this show, and it was a huge success.

In 2000, Wolfe helped write and directed the Broadway musical The Wild Party. In late 2004, Wolfe decided to start directing films. His first film was the well-received HBO movie Lackawanna Blues.

Wolfe has continued to direct many plays. These include Suzan-Lori Parks' Pulitzer Prize-winning play Topdog/Underdog (2001). He also directed Tony Kushner's Caroline, or Change (2003), a musical where all the dialogue is sung. In 2006, Wolfe directed a new version of Bertolt Brecht's Mother Courage and Her Children. This play starred famous actors like Meryl Streep and Kevin Kline.

Wolfe directed the film Nights in Rodanthe, which starred Richard Gere and Diane Lane. It opened in theaters in September 2008. Wolfe is also helping design the new Center for Civil & Human Rights in Atlanta. He is its chief creative officer.

In 2013, he was added to the American Theater Hall of Fame. In 2017, Wolfe resigned from the President's Committee on the Arts and Humanities. He joined other members who resigned due to political disagreements.

Wolfe directed a Broadway revival of Eugene O'Neill's The Iceman Cometh in 2018. Denzel Washington starred in this production.

Works

Theater

Filmography

Awards and Nominations

See also

In Spanish: George C. Wolfe para niños