Michael Dinwiddie

Michael Dinwiddie
Dinwiddie in 2019
Born
Michael Dinwiddie

(1954-12-13)December 13, 1954
Muskogee, Oklahoma, U.S.
DiedJuly 4, 2025(2025-07-04) (aged 70)
New York City, U.S.
Occupations
  • Professor
  • dramatist
  • composer
  • scholar
  • writer

Michael D. Dinwiddie (December 13, 1954 – July 4, 2025) was an American award-winning playwright, academic,[1] composer and scholar of Black theater.[2] In addition to his own work and contribution to Black literature and theatre, he led major efforts which led to New York University commemorating the African Grove Theater as part of a new building opening in 2023.[3]

Life and career

Born on December 13, 1954,[4] in Muskogee, Oklahoma, as a self-described “Okie from Muskogee,” Dinwiddie was among the early graduates of New York University’s experimental college of interdisciplinary studies, which would later become the Gallatin School of Individualized Study.[2]

Dinwiddie returned to NYU to join the Gallatin faculty and is credited with playing a key role in the university’s expansion into a global institution. He taught courses at NYU’s international campuses in Abu Dhabi, Accra, and Buenos Aires.[2] In 2022, The New York Times recognized his leadership in memorializing the African Grove Theatre—the first Black theatre in the United States, established in 1821—by helping to name a new theater at NYU in its honor.[3]

Beyond academia, Dinwiddie was an award-winning playwright and composer. His works, often centered on historical Black cultural figures such as Langston Hughes and Eubie Blake, were produced at leading Black theatre companies across the United States.[2] His accolades include:

Dinwiddie died following a brief illness in New York City, on July 4, 2025, at the age of 70.[2][8]

Works

Fiction

Plays

  • The Beautiful LaSalles (1990), produced by the Crossroads Theater Company, New Brunswick, New Jersey.[11]
  • Northern Lights 1966 (2018), at the Mosaic Youth Theatre in Detroit, Michigan in May 2018.[12]
  • The Carelessness of Love (2018),[13] a staged reading was directed by Clinton Turner Davis and produced by Woodie King at the Castillo Theatre, New York, on 23 June 2018.[12]
  • Actuary (2018), one-act play directed by Kristi Papaille in Louisville, Kentucky, in November 2018.[13]
  • Poppyseed (2021), a 10-minute play, part of the Metropolitan Playhouse series “East Side Stories Unmasked: Welcome to the ​​Neighborhood.”[14]  

Nonfiction

  • Dinwiddie, Michael. “African Grove Theatre’s Radical Roots.” Black Masks, vol. 27, no. 2, 2021, pp. 14–14.
  • Dinwiddie, Michael. “Black Panther Meets Pink Panther” in Madhubuti, Haki R., and Herb Boyd, editors. Black Panther : Paradigm Shift or Not?: A Collection of Reviews and Essays on a Blockbuster Film. Third World Press Foundation, 2019.
  • Dinwiddie, Michael, editor (2022). Holy ground : the National Black Theatre Festival anthology. Theatre Communications Group.
  • Dinwiddie, Michael. "World War I: The Harlem HellFighters” in Kraaz, Sarah Mahler, editor. Music and War in the United States. Routledge, 2019.

References

  1. ^ Armstrong, Linda (January 23, 2020). "'Theater Talks' at the Schomburg: riveting and illuminating". New York Amsterdam News. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g Rosner, Victoria (July 7, 2025). "Gallatin Mourns the Loss of Professor Michael D. Dinwiddie, with a Statement from His Family". NYU Gallatin. Retrieved July 7, 2025.
  3. ^ a b Sherman, Rachel (June 8, 2022). "N.Y.U. Names New Performance Space After Nation's First Black Theater". The New York Times. Retrieved June 8, 2022.
  4. ^ "Obituary for Michael D Dinwiddie". Swanson Funeral Homes. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  5. ^ "Michael Dinwiddie". HowlRound. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  6. ^ Chang, Lia (November 21, 2024). "Michael Dinwiddie Accepts 2024 AUDELCO Pioneer Award". Backstage Pass With Lia Chang. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  7. ^ "About AWS". August Wilson Society. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  8. ^ Green, Leia (July 13, 2025). "Michael Dinwiddie, president of August Wilson Society, pillar of theater community, dies at 70". Pittsburgh Post-Gazette. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  9. ^ "Michael Dinwiddie". Black Portraiture[s]. July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  10. ^ Alexander, Jackie; Holland, Endesha Ida Mae; Ackamoor, Idris; Jones, Rhodessa; Cole, Nora; Carril, Pepe; Cleage, Pearl; Furman, Roger; Forbes, Kamilah; Heyliger, Yvette; Foster, John Shévin; Lange, Ted; Robinson, Cynthia Grace; Bayeza, Ifa; Allen Ii, Dennis A.; Patrick Johnson, E.; Johnson, Javon; Cohen, Janet Langhart; Davis, Cheryl L.; Chéri, Angelica; Muhammad, Larry (September 20, 2022). Holy Ground: The National Black Theatre Festival Anthology. Theatre Communications Group. ISBN 978-1-63670-004-5.
  11. ^ Klein, Alvin (October 28, 1990). "THEATER: 'Beautiful LaSalles' Inspired by Legend". The New York Times. pp. Section 12, page 15. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  12. ^ a b "Michael Dinwiddie, Faculty profile - News". New York University, Gallatin School. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Michael Dinwiddie > Faculty > Community". NYU Gallatin. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  14. ^ "Metropolitan Playhouse: East Side Stories Unmasked". Metropolitan Playhouse. 2021.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.