{"id":120695,"date":"2026-02-02T23:20:11","date_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:20:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120695\/"},"modified":"2026-02-02T23:20:11","modified_gmt":"2026-02-02T23:20:11","slug":"woodie-king-jr-black-theater-trailblazer-dies-at-88","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us-ny\/120695\/","title":{"rendered":"Woodie King Jr., Black theater trailblazer, dies at 88"},"content":{"rendered":"

Black theater trailblazer Woodie King, Jr.<\/a>, who helped launch the careers of Denzel Washington<\/a>, Morgan Freeman, Debbie Allen and Chadwick Boseman<\/a> as the founder of New York City\u2019s New Federal Theatre, died at the age of 88.<\/p>\n

Company spokesperson Jonathan Slaff confirmed the award-winning producer, director and sometimes actor died Thursday at Weill Cornell Medical Center<\/a> of complications from emergency heart surgery. He is survived by three children and five grandchildren.<\/p>\n

Throughout the production of hundreds of stage plays since 1970, the New Federal Theatre<\/a> became known as an incubator for Black talent including playwrights Amiri Baraka, Ntozake Shange<\/a>, Ed Bullins and actors such as Samuel L. Jackson, Leslie Uggams<\/a>, Phylicia Rashad, S. Epatha Merkerson<\/a> and Issa Rae.<\/p>\n

\"Woodie<\/p>\n

Monica Morgan\/WireImage<\/p>\n

Woodie King Jr. attends the Ford Freedom Awards in Detroit in 2006. (Photo by Monica Morgan\/WireImage)<\/p>\n

The Detroit-raised Alabama native had a bold mission to integrate people of color and women into mainstream American theater when he started his company on the Lower East Side after earning degrees from Lehman College<\/a> and Brooklyn College and serving as a cultural director for Mobilization for Youth in the 1960s.<\/p>\n

\u201cMany white-controlled theatres produce only European plays that are directed to their own need to glorify the past,\u201d King told Playbill<\/a> in 2014.\u201dAfrican Americans are not integral to their past in any kind of positive way. That leaves me with a large canvas of untold stories.\u201d<\/p>\n

In the mid-1970s, New Federal provided a platform for emerging artists and groundbreaking theater works through training workshops in playwriting and drama for adults and teens.<\/p>\n

Shange\u2019s play \u201cFor Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide\/When the Rainbow is Enuf<\/a>\u201d was developed at New Federal Theatre before being produced at The Public Theater and later on Broadway.<\/p>\n

The work was adapted into a star-studded 2009 Tyler Perry film<\/a> starring Whoopi Goldberg, Kerry Washington, Anika Noni Rose, Loretta Devine and Janet Jackson<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"(From<\/p>\n

Jenny Anderson\/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions<\/p>\n

(From left) Fred Gallo, Beverly Jenkins, Irene Gandy, and Woodie King Jr. attend the Tony Honors Cocktail Party presenting the 2020 Tony Honors For Excellence In The Theatre on September 20, 2021 in Manhattan. (Photo by Jenny Anderson\/Getty Images for Tony Awards Productions)<\/p>\n

King, himself also dabbled in acting \u2014 counting Broadway\u2019s \u201cThe Great White Hope,\u201d the Sidney Lumet film \u201cSerpico\u201d<\/a> and Dick Wolfe\u2019s \u201cLaw & Order\u201d series among credits.<\/p>\n

Filmmaker Juney Smith<\/a> directed the documentary \u201cKing of Stage: The Woody King, Jr. Story,\u201d<\/a> which premiered at the National Black Theater Film Festival in Winston Salem, North Carolina in 2019.<\/p>\n

\u201cMy proudest moments were the times when traditional theatre producers denied me access and we prevailed,\u201d he told Playbill, adding that \u201cevery play that I produced by Amiri Baraka was a learning experience on black art \u2026I just love black theatre.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Woodie<\/p>\n

Courtesy of New Federal Theatre<\/p>\n

Woodie King, Jr. (Courtesy of New Federal Theatre)<\/p>\n

In 2021, King was a recipient of the Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre award, which recognized his outstanding contribution to the Broadway industry.<\/p>\n

Irene Gandy<\/a>, the groundbreaking Broadway press agent and legit theater producer, joined King as one of the honorees.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen he and I got the special Tony at the same time, I said during my award speech, that none of us would be here \u2014 I\u2019m not just talking about actors, I\u2019m talking about set designers, I\u2019m talking about choreographers. I\u2019m talking about costume designers, all of us \u2014 if it wasn\u2019t for Woody King to provide the productions, the quality productions,\u201d she told The Daily News on Monday.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo it\u2019s a great loss, but it\u2019s a great legacy,\u201d Gandy added.<\/p>\n

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