Tazewell Thompson facts for kids

Tazewell Thompson is an American theatre director, playwright, and opera director. He is known for leading famous theaters and directing award-winning shows. He was the artistic director of the Westport Country Playhouse in Connecticut and the Syracuse Stage in New York.

Thompson has directed many plays and musicals. In 2000, he directed his first opera, Porgy and Bess, for the New York City Opera. This was a huge success. It led to him directing other famous operas, like Dialogues of the Carmelites. In 2006, he was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Director. This was for the TV version of his Porgy and Bess production.

As a writer, Thompson has created important plays. His play Constant Star tells the story of the activist Ida B. Wells. Another play, Mary T. & Lizzy K., is about Mary Todd Lincoln and her friend Elizabeth Keckley. In 2019, his musical Jubilee premiered. It is based on the story of the famous Fisk Jubilee Singers.

Early Life and Inspiration

Tazewell Thompson was born in New York City. He had a difficult childhood. His father was a jazz musician who traveled a lot. His mother struggled to care for him after a fire in their home.

When Tazewell was eight, his grandmother arranged for him to live at a home run by nuns. He lived with the Sisters of St. Dominic for six years. He has good memories of the sisters. They encouraged his love for the theatre. His time with them later inspired his work on the opera Dialogues of the Carmelites, which is about a group of nuns.

Career in Theatre

Getting Started

As a young man, Thompson was an actor. He appeared in Broadway shows like The National Health (1974). He also acted in many Off-Off-Broadway plays. These are shows in smaller, more experimental theaters in New York City.

Thompson also taught at St. Ann's School in Brooklyn. He directed amazing shows with his students. At the same time, he continued to act and direct in other theaters. His work on an opera called The Second Hurricane got him noticed. This led to a job as an assistant director at the famous Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

Leading Regional Theatres

In 1992, Thompson became the artistic director of Syracuse Stage. This was a major achievement. He was one of the few Black directors to lead a large regional theatre at the time. He wanted to make the theatre more inclusive. This means he chose plays that told stories about all different kinds of people. One of his first shows, Jar the Floor, was a huge hit with audiences.

From 2005 to 2007, Thompson was the artistic director at the Westport Country Playhouse. This is another important theatre in Connecticut.

Directing Plays and Operas

Thompson has directed shows all over the country. He is especially known for his work with operas.

• Porgy and Bess: He directed this classic American opera for the New York City Opera in 2000. He directed it again in Washington, D.C., in 2006. The Washington show was filmed for TV and earned him an Emmy nomination.
• Dialogues of the Carmelites: He directed this opera by Francis Poulenc for the Glimmerglass Opera in 2002 and for the City Opera in 2004.
• Lost in the Stars: In 2012, he directed this musical for Glimmerglass Opera. It is based on the famous South African novel Cry, the Beloved Country.
• Blue: In 2019, he directed a new opera called Blue. He also wrote the libretto (the words for the opera). The story is about the challenges faced by African-American families.

Writing for the Stage

Thompson is also a talented playwright. He writes plays that often explore important moments in history.

Constant Star

His play Constant Star is about the life of Ida B. Wells. She was a journalist and activist who fought for civil rights in the 1800s. The play uses five actresses to play Wells and other people in her life. It also includes about 20 traditional spiritual songs.

Thompson said this about why he wrote the play:

My first introduction to Ida B. Wells was the PBS documentary on her life. Her story gnawed at me. A woman born in slavery, she would grow to become one of the great pioneer activists of the Civil Rights Movement. ... she was a suffragist, newspaper editor and publisher, investigative journalist, co-founder of the NAACP, political candidate, mother, wife, and the single most powerful leader in the anti-lynching campaign in America.

Mary T. & Lizzy K.

This play is about the friendship between Mary Todd Lincoln, the wife of President Abraham Lincoln, and Elizabeth Keckley. Keckley was a former slave who became a successful dressmaker and a close friend to Mrs. Lincoln. The play opened in 2013 in Washington, D.C.

Awards and Recognition

• 2006: Thompson won an NAACP Theatre Award for directing the musical Porgy and Bess.
• 2006: He was nominated for an Emmy Award for Best Director for the TV version of Porgy and Bess.

Other sources

• Frank Rizzo, "Thompson in at Westport: Artistic director to begin new role Jan. 1", Variety, June 21, 2005