George C. Wolfe : biography
George Costello Wolfe (born September 23, 1954) is an American playwright and director of theater and film. He won a Tony Award in 1993 for directing Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and another Tony Award in 1996 for his direction of the musical, Bring in ‘da Noise/Bring in ‘da Funk.
Filmography
Year | Title | Credit | Role |
---|---|---|---|
1989 | Trying Times (TV) | Writer (1 episode) | — |
1993 | Fires in the Mirror (TV) | Director | — |
1994 | Fresh Kill | Actor | Othello Yellow |
2004 | Garden State | Actor | restaurant manager |
2005 | Lackawanna Blues (TV) | Director | — |
2006 | The Devil Wears Prada | Actor | Paul |
2008 | Nights in Rodanthe | Director | — |
TBA | The Hairball | Director, writer | — |
Theater works
Broadway
Year | Title | Credit | Venue |
---|---|---|---|
1992 | Jelly’s Last Jam | Director, writer (book) | Virginia Theatre |
1993 | Angels in America: Millennium Approaches | Director, producer | Walter Kerr Theatre |
1993 | Angels in America: Perestroika | Director, producer | Walter Kerr Theatre |
1994 | Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992 | Director, producer | Cort Theatre |
1995 | The Tempest | Director, producer | Broadhurst Theatre |
1996 | Bring in ‘Da Noise, Bring in ‘Da Funk | Director, producer, lyrics, idea | Ambassador Theatre |
1998 | Golden Child | Producer | Longacre Theatre |
1998 | On the Town | Director, producer | George Gershwin Theatre |
2000 | The Ride Down Mt. Morgan | Producer | Ambassador Theatre |
2000 | The Wild Party | Director, producer, writer (book) | Virginia Theatre |
2002 | Elaine Stritch At Liberty | Director, producer | Neil Simon Theatre |
2002 | Topdog / Underdog | Director, producer | Ambassador Theatre |
2003 | Take Me Out | Producer | Walter Kerr Theatre |
2004 | Caroline, or Change | Director, producer | Eugene O’Neill Theatre |
2006 | Mother Courage and Her Children | Director | Delacorte Theatre in Central Park |
2011 | The Normal Heart | Director | John Golden Theatre |
2013 | Lucky Guy | Director | Broadhurst Theatre |
Career
In 1977, Wolfe gave C. Bernard Jackson, the executive director of the Inner City Cultural Center in the Los Angeles, the first scene of a play he was working on. Rather than suggest that he finish writing it, Jackson said, "Here’s some money, go do it." The name of the play was "Tribal Rites, or The Coming of the Great God-bird Nabuku to the Age of Horace Lee Lizer." Wolfe stated in an article he wrote about Jackson for the Los Angeles Times that "this production was perhaps the most crucial to my evolution" as an artist.
Among Wolfe’s first major offerings—the musical Paradise (1985) and his play The Colored Museum (1986)–were off-Broadway productions that met with mixed reviews. In 1989, however, Wolfe won an Obie Award for best off-Broadway director for his play Spunk, an adaptation of three stories by Zora Neale Hurston.