Pioneering Black theatre artist, director, producer, and Tony honoree Woodie King, Jr. passed away January 29 due to complications of heart surgery. His death was confirmed by a press representative. He was 88 years old. 

A trailblazer for Black theatre, Mr. King was the founding director of New York City's New Federal Theatre, which, since 1970, has aimed to amplify the voices of Black artists, women, and other marginalized communities. King served as the producing director until 2021, at which point he retired, but remained on the Federal Theatre's board. He was long declared by the theatre industry and community as "the Renaissance Man of Black Theatre." In 2020, the Off-Broadway Alliance named him a "legend of Off-Broadway." 

Born in Baldwin Springs, Alabama in 1937 to parents Ruby and Woodie King, Sr., the family soon moved to Detroit, Michigan, where Mr. King spent his childhood. He graduated from Cass Tech high school in 1956 and worked for Ford Motor Company as an arc welder for three years before joining the city of Detroit as a draftsman in 1959. During this time, he attended The Will-O-Way School of Theatre on a scholarship, while writing theatre reviews for The Detroit Tribune. In 1960, King cofounded Detroit's Concept-East Theatre with Ron Milner, serving as the manager and director until 1963. As described in the press release announcing his passing: "Detroit could not hold him."

He soon moved to New York City to attend Lehman College, where he earned a Bachelor's degree in self-determined studies, with a focus on theatre and black studies. In 1965, Mr. King joined Mobilization for Youth, where he spent the next five years as cultural director. He founded the New Federal Theatre in 1970, where the founding mission was “to integrate artists of color and women into the mainstream of American theatre by training artists for the profession and by presenting plays by writers of color and women to integrated, multicultural audiences—plays which evoke the truth through beautiful and artistic re-creations of ourselves.”

New Federal Theatre quickly established itself as a pivotal player in the New York theatre scene. In 1976, the theatre produced the New York premiere of for colored girls who have considered suicide / when the rainbow is enuf, written by the then-28-years-old Ntozake Shange. The play, a multifaceted exploration of Black womanhood, quickly transferred to the Public Theater and then to Broadway, with both Joseph Papp and Mr. King credited as producers.

To date, the New Federal Theatre has produced over 450 plays, with many prominent BIPOC and women playwrights and actors finding breakout roles and opportunities that led them to acclaim. Veterans of the New Federal Theatre include actors Morgan Freeman, Denzel Washington, Debbie Allen, Samuel L. Jackson, Laurence Fishburne, Chadwick Boseman, Robert Downey, Jr., Ruby Dee, Leslie Uggams, Jackée Harry, Phylicia Rashad, playwrights Ed Bullins, Amiri Baraka, J.e Franklin, Ntozake Shange, David Henry Hwang, Ron Milner, Joseph Lizardi, Damien Leake, Genny Lim, Laurence Holder Alexis DeVeaux, and many more. 

Mr. King has been the subject of numerous documentaries, including The King of Stage: the Woodie King, Jr. Story, directed by Juney Smith, and TCG’s “Legacy Leaders of Color” video project. In 2021, Mr. King received The Tony Honors for Excellence in the Theatre for his work with the New Federal Theatre. he is also the recipient of an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement, TCG’s Peter Zeisler Award, AEA’s Paul Robeson Award, and AEA’s Rosetta LeNoire Award. In 2012, he was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame and received the Innovative Theatre Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatre. 

In addition to his work as a producer, Mr. King has also acted on Broadway in The Great White Hope, in several films including Serpico, and on television in several shows—including Law & Order. Later in his career, Mr. King received an MFA in theatre with a concentration in directing from Brooklyn College, and was also granted honorary doctorates from Lehman College, Wayne State University, and John Jay College of Criminal Justice.

In a 2014 interview with Playbill, King discussed the triumphs (and trying times) of his career. When asked what some of his proudest achievements in theatre were, King answered: "My proudest moments were the times when traditional theatre producers denied me access and we prevailed," he shared. Some of those triumphs, he said, include New Federal Theatre winning the Drama Desk Award for Black Girl by Ms. J. E. Franklin; winning the Drama Critics Circle Award for Ed Bullins' The Taking of Miss Janie; producing for colored girls... on Broadway; Denzel Washington first starring as civil rights icon Malcolm X in Laurence Holder's When the Chickens Came Home to Roost; and the Broadway production of Checkmates, starring Washington and Ruby Dee, and directed by Mr. King. "And every play that I produced by Amiri Baraka was a learning experience on Black art ... I just love Black theatre," he added.

Mr. King is survived by the three children he had with his first wife, teacher and casting agent Willie Mae Washington: Woodie Geoffrey King, Michael King, and Michelle King Huger. He leaves behind five grandchildren.

Memorial contributions are encouraged to be made to Woodie King, Jr.’s New Federal Theatre.