Tazewell Thompson

Tazewell Thompson (born May 27, 1948), is a playwright, a director, and former Artistic Director of the Westport Country Playhouse in Westport, Connecticut.

He was born in New York City.

As an actor, he was a cast member of the original Broadway productions of The National Health (1974)[1] and Checking Out (1976).[2]

He wrote and directed, among many others, the play Constant Star, which has toured the United States. A musical about the life of Ida B. Wells, Constant Star uses five actresses to play her as well as other persons in her life. Although primarily a drama, it includes about 20 negro spirituals sung by the actresses. Of his play, Thompson says

My first introduction to Ida B. Wells was the PBS documentary on her life. Her story gnawed at me. A woman born in slavery, she would grow to become one of the great pioneer activists of the Civil Rights movement. A precursor of Rosa Parks, she was a suffragist, newspaper editor and publisher, investigative journalist, co-founder of the NAACP, political candidate, mother, wife, and the single most powerful leader in the anti-lynching campaign in America. A dynamic, controversial, temperamental, uncompromising race woman, she broke bread and crossed swords with some of the movers and shakers of her time: Frederick Douglass, Susan B. Anthony, Marcus Garvey, Booker T. Washington, W. E. B. Du Bois, President McKinley. By any fair assessment, she was a seminal figure in Post-Reconstruction America.
On her passing in 1931, Ida B. Wells was interred in the Oak Woods Cemetery, Chicago. Her formidable contributions to the Civil Rights movement have, until most recently, been under-appreciated. Until now; almost, but not quite, an historical footnote.
This play with song is my attempt to let her story breathe freely on stage - to give it a symphonic expression - to give her extraordinary persona an audience, something she always craved.

For the televised performance of his production of Porgy and Bess, he was nominated for an Emmy as Best Director.[3] In the early 1990s, he was artistic director of Syracuse Stage.[4] He also won an NAACP Theatre Award for Director of a Musical in the 16th Annual NAACP Theatre Awards.[5]

References

  1. ^ IBDB - Tazewell Thompson
  2. ^ IMDb - Tazewell Thompson
  3. ^ DC Theatre, May 14, 2006
  4. ^ New York Times, February 24, 1994 - Director Shakes Up Syracuse Stage
  5. ^ Black Talent News - The Beverly Hills/Hollywood NAACP Announced Winners Of The 16th Annual NAACP Theatre Awards, posted on Feb 23, 2006

Other sources

External links