Douglas Turner Ward (May 5, 1930February 20, 2021) was an American playwright, actor, director, and theatrical producer. He was noted for being a founder and artistic director of the Negro Ensemble Company (NEC). He was nominated for the Tony Award for Best Featured Actor in a Play in 1974 for his role in The River Niger, which he also directed.
Early life Ward was born Roosevelt Ward Jr. in Burnside, Louisiana, on May 5, 1930. His parents, Roosevelt Ward and Dorothy (Short), were poor farmers who also owned a tailoring business. They relocated to New Orleans when Ward was eight years old, and he went to Xavier University Preparatory School. He was accepted by Wilberforce University in 1946, before transferring to the University of Michigan. He majored in politics and theater, but dropped out of college at the age of 19 and relocated to New York City. There, he became friends with Lorraine Hansberry and Lonne Elder III.
Ward became a member of the Progressive Party at the end of the 1940s and aligned himself on the left of the political spectrum. He was imprisoned in New Orleans while appealing his conviction for draft evasion. After his conviction was reversed, he returned to New York and worked as a reporter for the Daily Worker. Ward also joined the Paul Mann Actors Workshop to study theater. He subsequently adopted the stage name Douglas Turner Ward, a tribute to his two role models: Frederick Douglass and Nat Turner.
Career As an actor, Turner made one of his first performances in The Iceman Cometh by Eugene O'Neill in 1956, at the Circle in the Square Theatre. Three years later, he made his Broadway debut in a small role in A Raisin in the Sun, alongside Sidney Poitier and Claudia McNeil. His first significant artistic achievement would be as a playwright, however.
Happy Ending/Day of Absence, a program of two one-act plays, premiered at the St. Mark's Playhouse in Manhattan on November 15, 1965. It ultimately ran for 504 performances over 15 months, enduring through the 1966 transit strike. That same year, Ward authored an opinion piece in The New York Times titled "American Theater: For Whites Only?" The piece garnered a grant from W. McNeil Lowry of the Ford Foundation. Ward later received his first Drama Desk Award for outstanding new playwright.
Ward was one of the founders of the Negro Ensemble Company in 1967, and served for many years as its artistic director. It notably produced The River Niger (1972), which won the Tony Award for Best Play in 1974 and was adapted as a film of the same name two years later. Ward himself acted in and directed that play, receiving a nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Play. The company also produced Home (1979) by Samm-Art Williams and A Soldier's Play (1981) by Charles Fuller. The latter won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama and was adapted into the 1984 film A Soldier's Story.
Ward was enshrined into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 1996. He was also conferred the Martin Luther King Jr. Humanitarian Award. He published The Haitian Chronicles in March 2020, having worked on the three-play series for around four decades. He viewed the series, which focused on the Haitian Revolution, as his magnum opus and intended to have it staged by NEC alumni.
Personal life Ward married Diana Powell Ward in 1966. Together, they had two children: Elizabeth Ward–Cuprill and Douglas Powell Ward.
Ward died on February 20, 2021, at his home in Manhattan. He was 90 years old.
Selected credits Theatre Directing Year Production Theatre(s) Notes1982A Soldier's PlayLucille Lortel TheatreDrama Desk Award nomination1980Zooman and the SignTheatre Four1979HomeSt. Mark's Playhouse1975The First Breeze of SummerSt. Mark's Playhouse1972The River NigerSt. Mark's Playhouse1970Day of AbsenceSt. Mark's PlayhousePart of a program of two one-act plays with BrotherhoodBrotherhoodSt. Mark's PlayhousePart of a program of two one-act plays with Day of Absence1968Daddy Goodness St. Mark's Playhouse
Writing Year Production Theatre(s) Notes1983The RedeemerTheatre FourPart of a program of three one-act plays, entitled About Heaven and Earth1970Day of AbsenceSt. Mark's PlayhousePart of a program of two one-act plays with BrotherhoodBrotherhoodSt. Mark's PlayhousePart of a program of two one-act plays with Day of Absence1969The ReckoningSt. Mark's Playhouse1965Day of AbsenceSt. Mark's PlayhousePart of a program of two one-act plays with Happy EndingHappy EndingSt. Mark's PlayhousePart of a program of two one-act plays with Day of Absence
Acting Year Production Role Theatre(s) Notes1983TigusTigusTheatre FourPart of a program of three one-act plays, entitled About Heaven and Earth1975The First Breeze of SummerHarper EdwardsSt. Mark's Playhouse1972The River Niger Johnny WilliamsSt. Mark's PlayhouseBrooks Atkinson TheatreObie Award, Distinguished PerformanceTony Award nomination, Best Featured Actor in a Play1969Ceremonies in Dark Old MenMr. Russell B. ParkerSt. Mark's PlayhouseDrama Desk Award, Outstanding Performance1959A Raisin in the SunMoving ManBobo (understudy)Walter Lee Younger (understudy)Ethel Barrymore TheatreBelasco Theatre
Awards and nominations 1966 Drama Desk Award for Happy Ending and Day of Absence 1968 Drama Desk Award (with Robert Hooks and Gerald S. Krone,Genzlinger, Neil (February 28, 2020), "Gerald Krone, 86, Founder Of Negro Theater Troupe, Dies at 86", The New York Times, New York Edition, print version, Section D, page 6, March 9, 2020, Negro Ensemble Company) 1969 Drama Desk Award (Outstanding Performance) for Ceremonies in Dark Old Men 1969 Tony Award Special Award (with Robert Hooks and Gerald S. Krone, Negro Ensemble Company) 1974 Tony Award, Best Play (with Robert Hooks and Gerald S. Krone, Negro Ensemble Company) for The River Niger 1974 Tony Award nomination, Best Featured Actor in a Play for The River Niger 1976 Tony Award nomination, Best Play (with Robert Hooks and Gerald S. Krone, Negro Ensemble Company) for The First Breeze of Summer 1979 Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding New Play (with Robert Hooks and Gerald S. Krone, Negro Ensemble Company) for Nevis Mountain Dew 1982 Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding New Play (with Robert Hooks and Gerald S. Krone, Negro Ensemble Company) for A Soldier's Play 1982 Drama Desk Award nomination, Outstanding Director of a Play for A Soldier's Play
References
External links
Excerpt from Day of Absence at the National Humanities Center Stuart A. Rose Manuscript, Archives, and Rare Book Library, Emory University: Douglas Turner Ward papers, circa 1957–2012