ASU Gammy Award Winner George C. Wolfe Reflects on Art, Diversity, and Storytelling

Master storytellers, such as Tony award-winning director and playwright George C. Wolfe, can bring to life the wildest creations of our imaginations, connecting audiences through mutual experiences of the human condition. Wolfe says above all, art should empower.

ASU Gammage's third annual Gammy and Jerry Awards, held March 27, honored Wolfe for his contributions to the arts community. The Kentucky-born artist's many accomplishments were celebrated with the award, named after the iconic auditorium.

Former Gammy Award winners include WICKED and IF/THEN producer David Stone, who received the inaugural award in 2015. Tony award-winning performer and guitarist Michael Cerveris and his family were honored with the 2016 Gammy Award.

Born in 1954, Wolfe said he grew up when only a finite number of people of color were on TV, but still connected with the television programs' characters and experiences on a level deeper than skin color. Through his work, he aims to inspire similar experiences and connections for his audiences.

"Hopefully, in the work, it invites as many different kinds of people into the room so that they can all find themselves. Not just in the characters that look like them, but they can find themselves in the characters that don't look anything like them, but they understand ..." he explained.

Thematically, much of Wolfe's work has explored the role of African American culture in the arts, but his inspiration as a storyteller comes from somewhere deep inside himself, he said.

For example, when Wolfe produced and directed the 2004 musical CAROLINE OR CHANGE he focused on how audiences would connect with the universality of Caroline's heartbreak or Rose's discomfort at feeling out of place. The musical also took place during the Civil Rights Movement and followed protagonist Caroline, a black maid working for a Jewish family in Louisiana.

"So I don't go like, hmm, I'm now going to create something for the black community. I just feel this compelling urge," he said. "I just feel myself drawn to stories that I feel have a potency and immediacy."

Wolfe also wrote and directed the 2016 musical SHUFFLE ALONG, OR THE MAKING OF THE MUSICAL SENSATION OF 1921 AND ALL THAT FOLLOWED," which depicts the creation of one of the first all-black musical sensations which helped break down barriers for African American performers. Still, he said, exploring race and performance wasn't his primary motivation.

"What made me want to tell the story is I was very compelled by how naive these young, brilliant artists were, and I just wanted to revisit that energy inside of myself," he mused. "Yes, as a producer, as a cultural thinker and a person who believes theater has the responsibility to challenge and change the world, I find myself drawn to a project that has a cultural transgressive nature, and I therefore like to be involved in systems and structures that support that, but when making individual decisions about which stories I'm telling, it's a much odder and more personal journey that I want to go on."

Still, he says it is important to transcend these limitations in order to provide audiences with the most diverse array of voices and ideas possible.

Wolfe reflected on the obstacles he has faced and those who helped him overcome these barriers. For instance, while he studied musical theater at New York University, some people objected to Wolfe joining a class, but writer Peter Stone demanded he be included.

"So I feel like I've been very blessed in the sense that I've had the veracity of spirit to not be stopped, and at the same time, the protective energy and the generosity of those who have come before me, who saw something inside of me and therefore invited me into rooms that I would not have been inside of otherwise," he recalled.

Inclusion and diversity is especially important in an institution of higher education such as ASU, because it is a breeding ground for what's next, Wolfe said.

"You're making new artists, you're making new administrators, you're making new thinkers, you're making new producers and managers. And so, as many different people, as many different voices as you can have in the room, the richer everyone's voice becomes. It's just a fact," he said.

Written by Emi Kamezaki

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