Wolfe, George C.

Playwright and artistic director George C. Wolfe was born on September 23, 1954 in Frankfort, Kentucky. His mother, a teacher, was among the first African Americans to study library science through the University of Kentucky Extension Program. Wolfe's mother became the principal at the private, all-black, Rosenwald Laboratory School, where Wolfe received his elementary education, and discovered an interest in staging and directing. As a teenager, Wolfe attended a summer theater workshop at Miami University in Oxford, Ohio and began directing plays. He graduated from Frankfort High School in 1972, where he wrote for the literary journal. Wolfe attended Kentucky State University in Frankfort but, in 1973, transferred to Pomona College in Claremont, California, graduating in 1976 with his B.A. degree in theater.

Wolfe wrote and directed his first play,Up for Grabs, in 1975. InUp for Grabs, Wolfe debuted his sketch framing technique and the motif of passage through doors, which became common elements in his later works. The following year, he premieredBlock Party. Wolfe completed a six-month postgraduate artist residency at Pomona College before meeting C. Bernard Jackson, who funded the first production of Wolfe'sTribal Ritesat the Inner City Cultural Center in Los Angeles. Wolfe staged several plays in Los Angeles before moving to New York in 1979, where he graduated with his M.F.A. degree in 1983 from New York University School of the Arts. He premieredParadise!in 1985, andThe Colored Museumin 1986, which garnered Wolfe national attention, as well as the attention of New York Shakespeare Festival founder Joseph Papp. Following the premiere ofSpunk(1989), Papp named Wolfe a resident director in 1990. Wolfe won his first Obie award forSpunk's New York production that same year. In 1992, Wolfe made his Broadway debut withJelly's Last Jamat the Virginia Theatre, and achieved widespread recognition when he directed the Broadway premiere of Tony Kushner'sAngels in Americain 1993. He was named producer of the New York Shakespeare Festival that year and went on to produce ten seasons. Wolfe also directed the 1997 world premiere ofAmistadat the Lyric Opera in Chicago, Illinois. He stagedShuffle Along, or The Making of the Musical Sensation of 1921 and All That Followedat the Music Box Theatre in New York City in 2016.

In 1975, Wolfe won the Pacific Southern Regional Award for playwriting at the American College Theater Festival forUp for Grabs. The following year, he premieredBlock Party, receiving the Pacific Southern Regional Award for playwriting a second year in a row.

George C. Wolfe was interviewed byThe HistoryMakerson November 9, 2016.