{{short description|American theatre director}} '''Carl Cofield''' is an American theatre director and actor.
==Education and influences== Cofield was in the first class of the New World School of the Arts in Miami.<ref>{{cite web |title=Miami New Drama announces "One Night in Miami…" cast |url=https://www.abkco.com/news-feed/one-night-in-miami-colony-theater/ |website=Abkco Music and Records |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> He studied for one summer at Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and earned a BFA in Acting from University of Miami.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carl Cofield Named Associate Artistic Director Of The Classical Theatre Of Harlem |url=https://www.harlemworldmagazine.com/carl-cofield-is-named-associate-artistic-director-of-the-classical-theatre-of-harlem/ |website=Harlem World Magazine |date=10 August 2018 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> He earned an MFA in Directing from Columbia University in 2014.
Cofield is heavily influenced by music and hip-hop culture, citing the poetry and rhythm of Public Enemy as a key influence.<ref>{{cite web |title=Shakespeare Lightning Round: Carl Cofield |url=https://www.folger.edu/events/lightning-round-carl-cofield |website=Folger Shakespeare Library |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>
==Television and film== Cofield was a child actor in commercials, television series, and films. He was in almost a dozen Burger King commercials starting at age four and in several Wise Cheez Doodles commercials.<ref>{{cite web |title=Molly's Salon: Sherri Edelen and Carl Cofield |url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TK1g1wF_j2Q |website=Arena Stage | date=4 May 2021 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> He was on ''Miami Vice'' in 1986 and 1988, and ''Law & Order'' in 1993 and 1994, in both cases playing different characters on different episodes. He had roles on ''Tyler Perry's House of Payne'', ''Mama, I Want to Sing!'', and several other films and television series.
==Theatre==
===Acting=== Cofield performed in several shows and toured with the Acting Company including as Henry in ''Henry V'', and performed in multiple productions at Alabama Shakespeare Festival including Orsino in ''Twelfth Night''<ref>{{cite book |last1=O'Connor |first1=J |title=A Directory of Shakespeare in Performance Since 1991: Volume 3, USA and Canada |date=2007 |publisher=Palgrave Macmillan |location=New York |page=1927}}</ref> and Orlando in ''As You Like It'', Shakespeare Santa Cruz as Laertes in ''Hamlet'' and Victor in ''Private Lives'',<ref>{{cite web |last1=Waters |first1=Christina |title=Apocalypse Noel |url=https://www.goodtimes.sc/archives/cruz/08.06.03/private-0332.html |website=Metro Santa Cruz |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> and Arena Stage including Lymon in ''The Piano Lesson'' and Acaste in ''The Misanthrope''.
Cofield also played Morocco in ''The Merchant of Venice'' at Shakespeare Theatre Company,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Mackay |first1=Barbara |title=A dynamic new world 'Merchant of Venice' |url=https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/a-dynamic-new-world-merchant-of-venice |website=Washington Examiner |date=4 July 2011 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref> Boy Willie in ''The Piano Lesson'' at Indiana Repertory Theatre, and Barlow in ''Gem of the Ocean'' at Actors Theatre of Louisville.
He performed off-Broadway at the Manhattan Theatre Club in ''Ruined''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Hetrick |first1=Adam |title=Original Ruined Cast Members Will Revisit the Drama in Seattle and Los Angeles |url=https://playbill.com/article/original-ruined-cast-members-will-revisit-the-drama-in-seattle-and-los-angeles-com-169286 |website=Playbill |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> and ''The Whipping Man'', and at shows at Duke on 42nd and Lucille Lortel Theater.
===Directing=== Cofield directed ''The Mountaintop'' at Cleveland Playhouse in 2016, ''Disgraced'' at Denver Center,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Moore |first1=John |title=Perspectives: 'Disgraced' is about starting, not finishing, conversations |url=https://www.denvercenter.org/news-center/perspectives-disgraced-is-about-starting-not-finishing-conversations/ |website=Denver Center for the Performing Arts |date=7 April 2017 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> ''A Raisin in the Sun'' at Two River Theatre, and ''Henry IV, Part 2'' at Oregon Shakespeare Festival in 2017.
He directed the world premiere of ''One Night in Miami'' at Rogue Machine in Los Angeles in 2013.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Nichols |first1=David C. |title=Review: Imagining the history that was made 'One Night in Miami...' |url=https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/arts/la-xpm-2013-jun-11-la-et-cm-one-night-in-miami-rogue-machine-20130611-story.html |website=Los Angeles Times |date=11 June 2013 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> He directed the play again at Denver Center in 2015<ref>{{cite web |last1=Kennedy |first1=Lisa |title=Theater Review: Denver Center's "One Night in Miami" wallops |url=https://www.denverpost.com/2015/04/01/theater-review-denver-centers-one-night-in-miami-wallops/ |website=The Denver Post |date=April 2015 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> and at Miami New Drama in 2018.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Martin |first1=Roger |title=Review: ONE NIGHT IN MIAMI at Miami New Drama |url=https://www.broadwayworld.com/miami/article/BWW-Review-ONE-NIGHT-IN-MIAMI-at-Miami-New-Drama-20181120 |website=Broadway World |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>
He directed ''Radio Golf'' by August Wilson at Everyman Theatre, Baltimore in 2019, and ''Cymbeline'' at The Public Theater for their Mobile Unit<ref>{{cite web |title=Cymbeline |url=https://publictheater.org/productions/season/1920/mobile-unit/mobile-unit-cymbeline/ |website=Public Theater |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> and ''A Raisin in the Sun'' at Yale Repertory Theatre in 2020.
His 2019 ''Twelfth Night'' at Yale Rep was staged with an Afrofuturistic aesthetic.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Carson-Smith |first1=Taijae |title=All Bodies Are Shakespeare Bodies - "An Afrofuturistic Twelfth Night" |url=https://www.elmshakespeare.org/yes-articles/twelfth-night-all-bodies-are-shakespeare-bodies |website=Elm Shakespeare Company |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> In 2021, he directed ''King Lear'' at St. Louis Shakespeare Festival with André De Shields in the lead role and set in Africa.
===Classical Theatre of Harlem=== In 2018, Cofield was appointed Associate Artistic Director of Classical Theatre of Harlem.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carl Cofield Named Chair of NYU Tisch Grad Acting Program |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2021/04/15/carl-cofield-named-chair-of-nyu-tisch-grad-acting-program/ |website=American Theatre |date=15 April 2021 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> In 2014, Cofield directed the 50th anniversary production of Amiri Baraka's ''Dutchman'', as a joint venture with National Black Theatre and Classical Theatre of Harlem.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Soloski |first1=Alexis |title=Down in the Subway, Swipe Again |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2014/05/08/theater/the-racially-charged-dutchman-at-national-black-theater.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> His 2015 production of ''The Tempest'' was set in Hispaniola.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Collins-Hughes |first1=Laura |title=Review: 'The Tempest' Brings Music and Spirits to Marcus Garvey Park |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/07/08/theater/review-the-tempest-brings-music-and-spirits-to-marcus-garvey-park.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> Cofield directed a production of ''Macbeth'' in 2016,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Genzlinger |first1=Neil |title=Review: A 'Macbeth' at Ease in the Dark and Noisy City |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/07/23/theater/review-a-macbeth-at-ease-in-the-dark-and-noisy-city.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> ''Antigone'' in 2018,<ref>{{cite web |last1=Collins-Hughes |first1=Laura |title=Review: 'Antigone' Asserts Whose Lives Matter, With Modern Relevance |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/07/09/theater/antigone-review.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> and for his 2019 production of ''The Bacchae'' Cofield was described as taking advantage "of the outdoor setting with an electrifying staging that constantly breaks the fourth wall, bringing us mortals closer to the deities onstage."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Solís |first1=Jose |title=Review: The Greeks Go Coachella in a Boisterous 'Bacchae' |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2019/07/11/theater/the-bacchae-review-classical-theater-of-harlem.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>
In 2021, Cofield directed Will Power's ''Seize the King'', a re-writing of ''Richard III'', that was described as "both monumental and minimalist."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Collins-Hughes |first1=Laura |title=Review: In 'Seize the King,' 'Richard III' Goes to Harlem |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2021/07/11/theater/harlem-seize-the-king-richard-iii.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> Cofield's 2022 production of ''Twelfth Night'' was hailed by ''The New York Times'' as one of the best productions that year<ref>{{cite web |last1=Green |first1=Jesse |title=Best of Theater 2022 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2022/12/05/theater/best-theater-broadway.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=5 December 2022}}</ref> and for its direction.<ref>{{cite web |last1=Phillips |first1=Maya |title=Tony Awards 2023: Who Will Win (and Who Should) |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2023/05/10/theater/tony-awards-2023-broadway-critics-picks.html |website=The New York Times |access-date=10 May 2023}}</ref>
==Service to the arts== Cofield has been involved in the development of numerous theatrical projects. In 2014, he was a director for the play festival, 48 Hours in Harlem, through the National Black Theatre. In 2017, he directed a series of six plays commissioned by the McCarter Theatre at Princeton, for the program, the "Princeton and Slavery Plays."<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wojciechowski |first1=Frank |title=Princeton and Slavery: Plays That Probe Our Original Sin |url=https://paw.princeton.edu/article/princeton-and-slavery-plays-probe-our-original-sin |website=Princeton Alumni Weekly |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> In 2019, he directed ''The Kept Private'', a documentary theatre play, at Jeremy Davidson Storyhorse Theatre.<ref>{{cite web |title=The Kept Private by Storyhorse Documentary Theatre |url=https://jayheritagecenter.org/2019/01/10/the-kept-private-by-storyhorse-theatre/ |website=Jay Heritage Center |date=10 January 2019 |access-date=5 July 2022}}</ref>
==Teaching== Cofield has taught at Theatre for a New Audience, Fredonia, York College, and Baruch College. Beginning in 2015, he began to teach at The New School, and in 2019, at Columbia University.
From 2015 to 2018, Cofield taught at New York University. In 2021, Cofield was announced as the incoming Chair of Graduate Acting at New York University Tisch School of the Arts for a three-year appointment.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carl Cofield Named Chair of NYU Tisch Grad Acting Program |url=https://www.americantheatre.org/2021/04/15/carl-cofield-named-chair-of-nyu-tisch-grad-acting-program/ |website=American Theatre |date=15 April 2021 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref>
==Martial Arts== Cofield is a Black Belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu.<ref>{{cite web |title=Carl Cofield |url=https://www.instagram.com/carlcofield/?hl=en |website=Instagram |access-date=29 September 2022}}</ref>
==Awards== *2022: AUDELCO Award, Best Director of a Play for ''Twelfth Night'' for the Classical Theatre of Harlem *2021: St. Louis Theatre Circle Award, Outstanding Director of a Drama for ''King Lear''<ref>{{cite web |last1=Wilson |first1=Calvin |title=Muny's 'Chicago' wins big at St. Louis Theater Circle Awards |url=https://www.stltoday.com/entertainment/arts-and-theatre/muny-s-chicago-wins-big-at-st-louis-theater-circle-awards/article_25b7cfe2-1261-50c0-8ca0-b9fb16d821e7.html |website=St. Louis Post-Dispatch |date=29 March 2022 |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> *2014: NAACP Theatre Award, Best Director - Local for ''One Night in Miami''<ref>{{cite web |title=24th NAACP Theatre Awards Announced |url=https://naacptheatreawards.com/24th-naacp-theatre-awards-winners-announced/ |website=NAACP Theatre Awards |access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> *2014: LA Weekly Award, Best Director (nominated)<ref>{{cite web |title=6th Season (2013) |url=https://www.roguemachinetheatre.net/awards |website=Rogue Machine Theatre|access-date=4 July 2022}}</ref> *2014: L.A. Drama Critics Circle Award *AUDELCO Awards (nominated numerous times)
==References== {{Reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cofield, Carl}} Category:Living people Category:American theatre directors Category:1970 births Category:21st-century African-American male actors Category:21st-century American male actors Category:American male child actors Category:American artistic directors Category:Columbia University School of the Arts alumni Category:New York University faculty Category:Male actors from Miami Category:University of Miami alumni