Overview
- His company said he died on January 29 at Weill Cornell Medical Center of complications following emergency heart surgery.
- The institution will continue operating under the name Woodie King Jr.'s New Federal Theatre.
- Founded in 1970, the company set out to integrate artists of color and women into American theater and went on to produce more than 450 plays, launching careers for talents including Denzel Washington and Morgan Freeman.
- Productions that advanced to wider platforms included Ed Bullins’ The Taking of Miss Janie at Lincoln Center and Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls on Broadway in 1976, with the latter earning a Tony nomination.
- He was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame in 2012, received the 2020 Tony Honors for Excellence in Theatre, was named a Legend of Off-Broadway, and is survived by his wife Elizabeth Van Dyke, three children and five grandchildren.