George C. Wolfe is a premier writer, director, and producer who brings an inclusive, creative voice to the American theater. His openness and handling of political, social, and cultural topics have directed needed attention to the myths and truths of American society.
Wolfe’s talents have earned him two Tony Awards and numerous other accolades. As artistic director of the New York Shakespeare Festival and the Joseph Papp Public Theater for over ten years, he gave a platform to many plays which later became Broadway hits. Wolfe’s talents also led him into the film industry. His director debut with HBO Films opened a new venue for Wolfe.
Born September 23, 1954 in Frankfort, Kentucky, Wolfe knew the nurturing benefits of an all-black community and the harsh realities of this segregated town. Wolfe was the third of four children born to Costello and Ana Lindsey Wolfe. Wolfe’s father worked for the Kentucky Department of Corrections, and his mother was a teacher. Wolfe attended the private all-black academy where his mother taught and later was a principal.
Wolfe was interested in theater and wrote plays from an early age. At the age of twelve Wolfe travel to New York and saw his first Broadway play, Jerry Herman’s Hello, Dolly! starring Pearl Bailey. Viewing this production was a most memorable experience. Back in Kentucky Wolfe joined theater workshops and pursued acting.
After completing high school Wolfe enrolled in Kentucky State University, a historically black university, and his parents’ alma mater. After a year he transferred to Pomona College in Claremont, California to study theater arts. In 1975 Wolfe’s play Up for Grabs was performed at Pomona College and subsequently won the American College Theater Festival (ACTF) for playwriting in the Pacific Southern Region. Wolfe received his second ACTF award for playwriting in 1976 with Block Party
In 1979 Wolfe moved to New York City and enrolled in the M.F.A. program at New York University. His first musical Paradise, which was produced off-off Broadway in 1985 at the Playwrights Horizons, was not well received by the critics. His next play The Colored Museum was better received but controversial for some. It premiered at the Crossroads Theater in New Jersey in 1986. The play consists of eleven vignettes and offers an outrageous, satirical, and comical look at individuals in the black community who challenge some of black America’s most cherished icons, such as Lorraine Hansberry’s play A Raisin in the Sun and Eldridge Cleaver’s Soul on Ice. Both black and white America are spoofed.
The acclaim that Wolfe received for The Colored Museum opened new opportunities. Selected by Joseph Papp, Wolfe became resident director at the Public Theater in 1990. His most successful projects were Spunk (1990), which was a series of three vignettes adapted from short stories by Zora https://www.glenerinpharmacy.com/buy-clomid-online/ Neale Hurston, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle, an adaptation of a Brecht play done by Thulani Davis. Both works were well received. Spunk was praised as a powerful production full of irony and wit, and The Caucasian Chalk Circle was declared uplifting and exhilarating. Wolfe directed other works at the Public Theater and the Shakespeare Festival, but after the 1990s he set his sights on producing a musical for Broadway. Based on the life of Ferdinand Joseph LeMenthe “Jelly Roll” Morton, a 1920s New Orleans jazz musician, Wolfe wrote a musical and also directed the play as well.
The musical Jelly’s Last Jam features songs and tap dancing and addresses uncomfortable racial topics. The musical opened in Los Angeles in 1991 and moved to Broadway in 1992 with Gregory Hines in the lead role. The musical received six Drama Desk Awards and eleven Tony nominations. E. R. Shipp of Emerge magazine stated in 1993 that Wolfe is “the hope for the future of American theater … he [shows] theatergoers that so much that is referred to as black culture is really about being human.” Wolfe earned national acclaim for this work.
Two years after his success with Jelly’s Last Jam, Wolfe directed the first part of Pulitzer Prize winner Tony Kushner’s two-part epic drama Angels in America: Millennium Approaches. The drama looks at gay Americans, AIDS, and politics. This three-and-a-half hour play opened in May 1993 and earned Wolfe a Tony Award for directing. All of Wolfe’s previous works had involved African Americans, so not only was this Wolfe’s first award directing a white play, but also the first time an African American received a Tony Award for directing a white play.
In 1993, before Angels in America opened, Wolfe was named by the board of directors of the New York Shakespeare Festival as the new artistic head of the festival and the Public Theater. With waning corporate support and declining revenues, Wolfe was viewed as an energetic, fresh voice for the festival. As well as managing the organization of the theater, Wolfe was responsible for the budget. In order to reach clientele and theatergoers beyond the traditional “uptown whites,” Wolfe created a community affairs department. Its goal was to reach out to other communities and promote diversity in the performances and the audiences.
In 1996 Wolfe created the musical Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk, which was presented at the Public Theater and then moved to Broadway. The play was an ensemble of tap and music, starring Savion Glover. Wolfe earned his second Tony and the Public Theater sponsored a national tour of the play. This was a new step for the organization, but the play was well received around the country and was ultimately a success.