Early life and education

King was born in Alabama. He graduated high school in 1956 in Detroit, Michigan, United States, and worked at the Ford Motor Company there for three years. He then worked for the City of Detroit as a draftsman. He founded the New Federal Theater in 1970. He earned an M.F.A. at Brooklyn College in 1999.

Film and stage direction

King has a long list of credits in film and stage direction and production, including the following:

Stage	Play	Year
Alliance Theater (Atlanta, Georgia)	A Raisin in the Sun by Lorraine Hansberry	1994
American Cabaret Theater (Indianapolis,Indiana)	Eyes (based on Zora Neale Hurston's Their Eyes were Watching God) by Mari Evans	1995-1996
American Place Theatre	Splendid Mummer	1987
Arena Stage
Bermuda International Theatre Festival	Checkmates by Ron Milner	1995-1996
Billie Holiday Theatre (Brooklyn)	Good Black Don't Crack	1993
Broadway (New York)	Checkmates	1988
Brooklyn College	Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson	1996-1997
	Home by Samm-Art Williams	1996-1997
Center Stage of Baltimore
Cincinnati Playhouse
Cleveland Play House
Crossroads Theatre Company (New Brunswick, New Jersey)	And The World Laughs With You	1994
	Ali	1998-1999
Detroit Repertory Theater	Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson	1990
The Ensemble Studio Theater	Mudtracks by Regina Taylor	1994
Ford's Theater	God's Trombone	1990
GeVa Theatre	A Raisin in the Sun	1991
	The Member of the Wedding	1992
Indiana Repertory Company
Inner City Cultural Center (Los Angeles)	Checkmates	1987-1988
Jomandi Theatre
New Federal Theatre	Checkmates	1995-1996
	James Baldwin: A Soul on Fire by Howard Simon	2000
New York Shakespeare Festival
Northlight Theatre
Ohio State University	Angels in America	1998-1999
Pittsburgh Public Theater
SUNY Purchase
St Louis Black Repertory Theatre	Checkmates	1993
Stage West
Studio Arena In Buffalo
Virginia Museum Theatre
Seminole State College of Florida	The Piano Lesson by August Wilson	2012

Co-Produced Plays

For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow Is Enuf by Ntozake Shange
What the Wine Sellers Buy
Reggae
The Taking of Miss Janie, which earned the Drama Critic Circle Award

Awards and recognition

1985 Joseph Jefferson Award nomination for Appear and Show Cause
1988 NAACP Image Award for directing Checkmates at the Inner City Cultural Center
1993 AUDELCO awards for Best Director and Best Play for Robert Johnson: Trick The Devil
1997 Obie Award for Sustained Achievement
2003 Paul Robeson Award
2005 Rosetta LeNoire Award
2011 Induction into American Theater Hall of Fame
2014 Theatre Legend Award, Atlanta Black Theatre Festival

Works

• Woodie King, Earl Anthony (1972). Black Poets and Prophets: The Theory, Practice, and Esthetics of the Pan-Africanist Revolution. New York: New American Library.
• Woodie King (1981). The Forerunners: Black Poets in America. Washington, D.C: Howard University Press. ISBN 0-88258-093-0.
• Woodie King (1981). Black Theatre: Present Condition. New York: National Black Theatre Touring Circuit. ISBN 0-89062-133-0.
• Ron Milner; Woodie King (1986). Black Drama Anthology. New York: New American Library. ISBN 0-452-00902-2.
• Woodie King (1989). New Plays for the Black Theatre. Chicago: Third World Press. ISBN 0-88378-124-7.
• Woodie King (1996). The National Black Drama Anthology: Eleven Plays from America's Leading African-American Theaters. Applause Theatre & Cinema Book Publishers. ISBN 1-55783-219-6.
• Woodie King Jr (2000). Voices of Color: 50 Scenes and Monologues by African American Playwrights (Applause Acting Series). New York: Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-174-2.
• Woodie King Jr (2004). The Impact of Race. New York: Applause Books. ISBN 1-55783-579-9.
• Chuck Smith; Woodie King; Leslie Lee; Mark Clayton Southers; Kim Euell; Lisa Ebright (2007). Best Black Plays: the Theodore Ward Prize for African American Playwriting. Evanston, Ill: Northwestern University Press. ISBN 0-8101-2390-8. CS1 maint: Multiple names: authors list (link)

[ Source: Wikipedia ]