Woodie King Jr.

Woodie King Jr. (born 27 July 1937) is an African-American director and producer of stage and screen, as well as the founding director of the New Federal Theater in New York City.

King was born in Baldwin Springs, 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.

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

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

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

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