Michael Dinwiddie

Michael Dinwiddie
Dinwiddie in 2019
Born(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 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]

Dinwiddie's 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.[2][8] Syncopated Stages, an exhibit at New York Public Library's Library for the Performing Arts which Dinwiddie was curating opened on September 17, 2025.[9]

Works

Fiction

Plays

  • The Beautiful LaSalles (1990), produced by the Crossroads Theater Company, New Brunswick, New Jersey.[12]
  • Northern Lights 1966 (2018), at the Mosaic Youth Theatre in Detroit, Michigan in May 2018.[13]
  • The Carelessness of Love (2018),[14] a staged reading was directed by Clinton Turner Davis and produced by Woodie King at the Castillo Theatre, New York, on 23 June 2018.[13]
  • Actuary (2018), one-act play directed by Kristi Papaille in Louisville, Kentucky, in November 2018.[14]
  • Poppyseed (2021), a 10-minute play, part of the Metropolitan Playhouse series “East Side Stories Unmasked: Welcome to the Neighborhood.”[15]  

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 Exhibition: Syncopated Stages: Black Disruptions to the Great White Way". tisch.nyu.edu. Retrieved September 19, 2025.
  10. ^ "Michael Dinwiddie". Black Portraiture[s]. July 24, 2019. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  11. ^ 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.
  12. ^ Klein, Alvin (October 28, 1990). "THEATER: 'Beautiful LaSalles' Inspired by Legend". The New York Times. pp. Section 12, page 15. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  13. ^ a b "Michael Dinwiddie, Faculty profile - News". New York University, Gallatin School. Retrieved August 12, 2025.
  14. ^ a b "Michael Dinwiddie > Faculty > Community". NYU Gallatin. Retrieved July 23, 2025.
  15. ^ "Metropolitan Playhouse: East Side Stories Unmasked". Metropolitan Playhouse. 2021.
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