Douglas Turner Ward
| Douglas Turner Ward | |
|---|---|
| Born | Roosevelt Ward Jr. 5 May 1930 Burnside, Louisiana U.S. |
| Occupation | Playwright, actor, director, theatrical producer |
| Alma mater | University of Michigan |
| Information | |
| Period | 1959–present |
| Debut works | Happy Ending and Day of Absence (1965) |
| Magnum opus | Happy Ending/Day of Absence |
| Awards | Drama Desk Award Happy Ending and Day of Absence |
Douglas Turner Ward (May 5, 1930) is an American playwright, actor, director and theatrical producer best known as a founder and artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC).
Turner was born in Burnside, Louisiana. His father was Roosevelt Ward and his mother was Dorothy Ward (née Short).
As an actor, he made his Broadway debut in a small role in A Raisin in the Sun. However, his first significant artistic achievement would be as a playwright. Happy Ending/Day of Absence, a program of two one-act plays premiered at the St. Mark's Playhouse in Manhattan on November 15, 1965 and ran for 504 performances. Ward received a Drama Desk Award for his playwrighting.
In 1967, he was one of the founders of the Negro Ensemble Company and served for many years as its artistic director.
Ward is married to Diana Powell Ward, who made a documentary called Where Two Rivers Meet which tells the story of one of Ward's ancestors, a slave named Elnora who was owned by the first Grand Wizard of the Ku Klux Klan, Nathan Bedford Forrest. They have a daughter, Elizabeth Ward.
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