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Theatre, Film, and Television Biographies
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Joe Viterelli to Orson Welles
Douglas Turner Ward Biography (1930-)
Born May 5, 1930, in Burnside, LA; son of Roosevelt and Dorothy (Short) Ward;married Diana Powell. Addresses: OFFICE--c/o Negro Ensemble Company,165 W. 46th Street, New York, NY 10036.
- Nationality
- American
- Gender
- Male
- Birth Details
- May 5, 1930
- Burnside
Famous Works
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Credits
- BROADWAY DEBUT--Joe Mott, The Iceman Cometh, Circle in the Square, 1957.
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Credits; PRINCIPAL STAGE APPEARANCES
- (Appeared under the name of Douglas Turner until 1972; thereafter, used his full name.)
- Matthew Kumalo, Lost in the Stars, City Center, New York City, 1958.
- Moving Man, understudy Walter Younger, and Bobo, A Raisin in the Sun, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City, 1959.
- Archibald Wellington, The Blacks, St. Mark's Playhouse, New York City, 1961-62.
- a porter, Pullman Car Hiawatha, Circle in the Square, New York City, 1962.
- understudy Fredericks, One Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest, Cort Theatre, NewYork City, 1963.
- Zachariah Pieterson, The Blood Knot, Cricket Theatre, New York City, 1964.
- Fitzroy, Rich Little Rich Girl, Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, 1964.
- Roman citizen, Coriolanus, New York Shakespeare Festival, Delacorte Theatre, New York City, 1965.
- Arthur, Happy Ending and Mayor and Clan, Day of Absence, St. Mark's Playhouse, New York City, 1965.
- WITH THE NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY AT THE ST. MARK'S PLAYHOUSE,NEW YORK CITY,EXCEPT WHERE INDICATED OTHERWISE Oba Danlola, Kongi's Harvest, Thomas, DaddyGoodness, both 1968.
- Russell B. Parker, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, 1969.
- Black Man, The Harangues, 1970.
- title role, Frederick Douglas... Through His Own Words, 1972.
- Johnny Williams, The River Niger, 1972, reopened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1973.
- repeated role of Russell B. Parker, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, Walnut Street Theatre, Philadelphia, 1973.
- repeated role of Johnny Williams, The River Niger, New Locust Theatre, Philadelphia, PA, Harper Edwards, The First Breeze of Summer, 1975.
- Mingo Saunders, The Brownsville Raid, 1976.
- Bob Tyrone, The Offering, 1977.
- Jack Hamilton, Old Phantoms, 1979.
- Flick Lacey, The Michigan, 1979.
- Also appeared as Scar, The Reckoning (not a Negro Ensemble Company production), St. Mark's Playhouse, New York City, 1969.
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Credits; PRINCIPAL STAGE WORK; DIRECTOR
- Daddy Goodness, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, New York City, 1968.
- Contribution, Man Better Man, Brotherhood, and Day of Absence, all NegroEnsemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1969.
- Perry's Mission and Ride a Black Horse, both Negro Ensemble Company, St.Mark's Playhouse, 1971.
- A Ballet Behind the Bridge, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse,1972.
- The River Niger, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, later reopened at the Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1972- 73, then opened atthe New Locust Theatre, Philadelphia, 1973.
- The Great MacDaddy, Black Sunlight, and Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide,all Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1974.
- The First Breeze of Summer and Waiting for Mongo, both Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1975.
- Livin' Fat, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1976.
- The Great MacDaddy, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1977.
- The Offering and Black Body Blues, both Negro Ensemble Company, St.
- Mark's Playhouse, 1978.
- Nevis Mountain Dew, A Season to Unravel, Old Phantoms, and Home, all Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1979.
- Zooman and the Sign, Weep Not for Me, and Home, all Negro Ensemble Company, Theatre Four, New York City, 1980.
- A Soldier's Play, Negro Ensemble Company, Theatre Four, 1981.
- Manhattan Made Me and About Heaven and Earth, both Negro Ensemble Company, Theatre Four, 1983.
- District Line and Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, both Negro Ensemble Company, Theatre Four, 1984.
- Producer, Song of the Lusitanian Bogey and God Is a (Guess What?), with the Negro Ensemble Company, Aldwych Theatre, London, 1969.
- ARTISTIC DIRECTOR; NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY, ST. MARK'S PLAYHOUSE Summer ofthe Seventeenth Doll, Kongi's Harvest, and Daddy Goodness, all 1968.
- God Is a (Guess What?), 1968.
- Man Better Man, 1969.
- The Harangues, Asura, Brotherhood, Day of Absence, Akokawe, and Ododo, all 1970.
- Rosalee Pritchett, 1971.
- The Great MacDaddy, Black Sunlight, and Nowhere to Run, Nowhere to Hide,Terraces, Heaven and Hell's Agreement, and In the Deepest Part of Sleep, all1974.
- Eden and Livin' Fat, both 1976.
- The Twilight Dinner, 1978.
- Nevis Mountain Dew, A Season to Unravel, Old Phantoms, and The Michigan,all 1979.
- Home, 1979, later moved to the Cort Theatre, New York City, 1980.
- ARTISTIC DIRECTOR; NEGRO ENSEMBLE COMPANY, THEATRE FOUR,EXCEPTWHERE INDICATED OTHERWISE The Sixteenth Round, In an Upstate Motel, Zooman and the Sign,and Weep Not for Me, all 1980.
- The Rover and The Menaechmi, both 1981.
- Colored People's Time, at the Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, 1981.
- Sons and Fathers of Sons, 1982.
- Abercrombie Apocalypse, at the Cheryl Crawford Theatre, New York City, 1982.
- About Heaven and Earth, Puppetplay, and Manhattan Made Me, all 1983.
- American Dreams, Split Second, and District Line, all 1984.
- Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, Ford's Theatre, Washington, DC, 1984, then Theatre Four, 1985.
- Henrietta and Two Can Play, and Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, all 1985.
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Credits; MAJOR TOURS
- Understudy for Walter Younger and Bobo, succeeding to part of Walter Younger, A Raisin in the Sun, U.S. cities, 1960-61.
- Director and artistic director, A Soldier's Play, Negro Ensemble Company,U.S. cities, 1980-85.
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Credits; PRINCIPAL FILM APPEARANCES
- Man and Boy, Levitt-Pickman, 1972.
- TELEVISION DEBUT--1958.
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Credits; PRINCIPAL TELEVISION APPEARANCES; EPISODIC
- Studio One, CBS.
- East Side West Side, CBS.
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Credits; SPECIALS
- Russell B. Parker, Ceremonies in Dark Old Men, PBS, 1975.
- director, and appeared in The First Breeze of Summer, 1976.
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Writings
- PLAYS,PRODUCED Day of Absence and Happy Ending both at St. Mark's Playhouse, New York City, 1965.
- The Reckoning, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1969.
- Brotherhood, (produced on a double bill with a revival of Days of Absence), Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1970.
- The Harangues, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1970.
- River Niger, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1972, then atthe Brooks Atkinson Theatre, New York City, 1973, then at the New Locust Theatre, Philadelphia, 1973.
- The Brownsville Raid and The Offering, both Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark's Playhouse, 1977.
- (contributor) Holidays, Negro Ensemble Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, KY, 1979.
- "The Redeemer" (one-act, produced in a series of one-acts with the overall title, About Heaven and Earth), Negro Ensemble Company, Theatre Four, New York City, 1983.
- PLAYS,PUBLISHED Happy Ending (and) Day of Absence, Dramatists Play Service, 1966.
- The Reckoning, Dramatists Play Service, 1970.
- Brotherhood, Dramatists Play Service, 1970.
- Two Plays, Third Press, 1975.
- Also represented in anthologies, including New Black Playwrights, editedby William Couch, Jr., Louisiana State University Press, 1968; Black Drama, edited by William Brasmer and Dominick Consolo, Merrill, 1970; Contemporary Black Drama, edited by Clinton Oliver and Stephanie Sills, Scribner & Sons,1971; Afro-American Literature, edited by Robert Hayden, David Burrows, andFrederick Lapides, Harcourt, 1971; Blackamerican Literature, edited by Ruth Miller, Free Press, 1971.
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