St. Louis Public Radio
Steven Woolf directed 47 plays during a long tenure as artistic director for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.
Steven Woolf, who led the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis as its artistic director for 33 years, died Monday of advanced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. He was 75.
The Rep produced more than 300 different plays during his tenure. He directed 47 of them. Woolf often turned to well-known 20th-century works by American and British playwrights, including Edward Albee and Arthur Miller. But he also commissioned new works and directed high-profile contemporary plays like Stephen Karam’s “The Humans” and Joshua Harmon’s “Admissions.”
Many critics of the white-dominated theater canon in the U.S. point to the intense focus on Shakespeare as a force that holds back artists of color. St. Louis Shakespeare Festival's production of "King Lear" features a predominately Black cast and makes room for new interpretations of a revered playwright.