#1
Posted: 2/7/05 at 1:51pm
Charles Gordone ,African-American Playwright, Director, Actor, and Educator.
Born Charles Edward Fleming in Cleveland, Ohio he was the son of William Fleming and Camille Morgan Fleming. Growing up in Elkhart, Indiana in this family setting, he had two brothers Stanley and Jack. In 1930, his mother married William L. Gordon and they had a daughter, Leah Geraldine. He was educated at California State University, Los Angeles, (B. A., 1952); New York University and Columbia University.
After spending time in the U. S. Air Force Gordone became a waiter and actor in New York City. He married Januita Barton they had two children, Stephen, and Judy Ann, he later had two other children Leah-Carla and David. In 1962, he co-founded the Committee for the Employment of Negro Performers and worked with the Ensemble Studio Theatre; Actors Studio. In 1967, Gordone began a relationship with Jeanne Warner. That same year he worked at the Commission of Civil Disorders, he was also an instructor at Cell Block Theatre and Bordentown Detention Center in New Jersey from 1977 to 1978 and served as judge for Missouri Arts Council Playwriting Competition.
From 1978 to 1979, he was instructor for the New School for Social Research, New York, New York. Gordone's moment in the sun came in the late 1960s with his play No Place to Be Somebody. Initially staged Off-Broadway, it struck a chord with audiences and critics for its vivid characterizations of a vibrant cast of characters whose lives intersect in a New York City bar. Compared by a number of critics to the works of Eugene O'Neill, the story centers on a saloonkeeper and pimp named Johnny Williams who tries to take over neighborhood rackets from the local syndicate.
Much of the materials for the play came from his own experience working in a tavern after he first came to New York City. During the last two decades of his life, Gordone directed plays and lectured in community theaters around the country. In the late 1980s he voiced his opinion that minority actors should have more of a presence in realistic American plays. As a director, he cast Hispanic actors as migrant laborers in a production of “Of Mice and Men” and a Creole actor in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
He earned many awards and honors such as: Obie Award, Best Actor (Of Mice and Men), 01953); Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Los Angeles Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award (No Place to Be Somebody), (1970). and the Vernon Rice Award, (1970). Gordone began a nine-year teaching association with Texas A&M University in 1986. Known for his flamboyant appearance in wearing apparel he remained a dramatic figure on the theater scene until his death on November 13, 1995, in College Station, Texas, of cancer.
Born Charles Edward Fleming in Cleveland, Ohio he was the son of William Fleming and Camille Morgan Fleming. Growing up in Elkhart, Indiana in this family setting, he had two brothers Stanley and Jack. In 1930, his mother married William L. Gordon and they had a daughter, Leah Geraldine. He was educated at California State University, Los Angeles, (B. A., 1952); New York University and Columbia University.
After spending time in the U. S. Air Force Gordone became a waiter and actor in New York City. He married Januita Barton they had two children, Stephen, and Judy Ann, he later had two other children Leah-Carla and David. In 1962, he co-founded the Committee for the Employment of Negro Performers and worked with the Ensemble Studio Theatre; Actors Studio. In 1967, Gordone began a relationship with Jeanne Warner. That same year he worked at the Commission of Civil Disorders, he was also an instructor at Cell Block Theatre and Bordentown Detention Center in New Jersey from 1977 to 1978 and served as judge for Missouri Arts Council Playwriting Competition.
From 1978 to 1979, he was instructor for the New School for Social Research, New York, New York. Gordone's moment in the sun came in the late 1960s with his play No Place to Be Somebody. Initially staged Off-Broadway, it struck a chord with audiences and critics for its vivid characterizations of a vibrant cast of characters whose lives intersect in a New York City bar. Compared by a number of critics to the works of Eugene O'Neill, the story centers on a saloonkeeper and pimp named Johnny Williams who tries to take over neighborhood rackets from the local syndicate.
Much of the materials for the play came from his own experience working in a tavern after he first came to New York City. During the last two decades of his life, Gordone directed plays and lectured in community theaters around the country. In the late 1980s he voiced his opinion that minority actors should have more of a presence in realistic American plays. As a director, he cast Hispanic actors as migrant laborers in a production of “Of Mice and Men” and a Creole actor in “A Streetcar Named Desire.”
He earned many awards and honors such as: Obie Award, Best Actor (Of Mice and Men), 01953); Pulitzer Prize for Drama, Los Angeles Critics Circle Award, Drama Desk Award (No Place to Be Somebody), (1970). and the Vernon Rice Award, (1970). Gordone began a nine-year teaching association with Texas A&M University in 1986. Known for his flamboyant appearance in wearing apparel he remained a dramatic figure on the theater scene until his death on November 13, 1995, in College Station, Texas, of cancer.
