Raised in Frankfort, Kentucky

Accompanied mother to NYC the summer before turning 13 while she was working on her doctorate in education at New York University

Enrolled in summer theater program at Miami University (in Oxford, Ohio) where his mother was continuing her doctoral work; got rid of his stutter

Had first successes as playwright with "Up for Grabs" while still enrolled in college

Second play, "Block Party", produced

Taught acting in Los Angeles while directing and writing plays for small theaters; spent three years working at Los Angeles' Inner City Cultural Center

Penned play with music "Back Alley Tales", produced at the Inner City Cultural Center in L.A.

Directed "Summer Suns/Tales of Night" at the Inner City Cultural Center

Relocated to NYC

Taught at City College of New York and the Richard Allen Center for Cultural Art

Wrote book and lyrics for musical flop, "Paradise!"; produced at Playwrights Horizons

Penned the episodic play with music "The Colored Museum", also wrote lyrics; opened to rave reviews at the Public Theatre's Susan Stein Shiva Theatre; engendered some controversy, however, in the black community for its skewering of stereotypes; reportedly several actors refused to audition for roles

Authored libretto of "Queenie Pie". Duke Ellington's unfinished musical; left project over "creative differences" with producers

Wrote "Hunger Chic", a 30-minute comedy directed by Buck Henry, broadcast as part of the PBS anthology series "Trying Times"

Adapted three stories of Zora Neale Hurston as "Spunk", produced at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum

"Spunk" restaged at NYC's Public Theater

Named by Public Theatre founder Joseph Papp as one of its three resident directors along with David Greenspan and Michael Grief

Wrote book and staged the biographical musical "Jelly's Last Jam", about jazz musician Jelly Roll Morton at L.A.'s Mark Taper Forum; lead role played by Obba Babatunde

Appeared as himself in docudrama "Finding Christa"

Co-directed and adapted "The Colored Museum" for PBS' "Great Performances"

Last play produced (to date), "Blackout"

Staged a revised version of "Jelly's Last Jam" on Broadway, with Gregory Hines in the lead; earned Tony nominations for Book of a Musical and as Director of a Musical; also directed the behind-the-scenes PBS special "Jammin': Jelly Roll Morton on Broadway

Assumed leadership of the Public Theatre, replacing Papp's hand-picked successor JoAnne Akalaitis after her troubled 20-month tenure; became first person in its history other than Papp to have the title of producer

Directed "Fires in the Mirror", an "American Playhouse" (PBS) adaptation of Anna Deveare Smith's play chronicling the racial tensions that escalated in Crown Heights, Brooklyn, in the summer of 1992 when an automobile driven by a Hasidic man jumped the curb and killed a seven-year-old black child

Became first black director of a Broadway production that was not black-themed, Tony Kushner's "Angels in America: Millennium Approaches"; won Tony for his direction

Staged the second half of Kushner's epic "Angels in America: Perestroika"; garnered a 1994 Tony nod for Direction of a Play

Reteamed with Anna Deveare Smith to stage her acclaimed "Twilight: Los Angeles 1992", examining the aftermath of the Rodney King beating in L.A.

Had a cameo as a cat lover in Shu Lea Cheang's straight-to-video, experimental, sci-fi feature "Fresh Kill"

Helmed the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) production of Oliver Mayer's "Blade to the Heat", a flawed look into the Hispanic boxing community of the 1950s

Served as producer of Michael John LaChiusa's musical "The Petrified Prince"

Helmed NYSF Central Park production of "The Tempest", starring Patrick Stewart; restaged production on Broadway for a critically-acclaimed limited run; earned Tony nod as Director of a Play

Won second Tony Award for helming the musical "Bring in 'Da Noise, Bring in 'Da Funk", starring Savion Glover

Fire destroyed home in Greenwich Village

Directed the Public's Central Park revival of "On the Town", dropping Jerome Robbins' signature choreography; production moved indoors in 1998 with new choreography but failed to impress critics or audiences

Profiled in PBS documentary, "Signature: George C. Wolfe"

Underwent kidney transplant on March 24

Produced Arthur Miller's "The Ride Down Mt. Morgan", starring Stewart, at the Public Theatre; show remounted on Broadway in 2000

Co-wrote (with Michael John LaChiusa) the libretto for "The Wild Party", the second of two musicals bowing that year based on the Jazz Age poem by Joseph Moncure March; also directed

Helmed the stage play "Topdog/Underdog"

Directed first feature, the HBO original movie "Lackawanna Blues," based on Ruben Santiago-Hudson's play that centers around a boarding house in Lackawanna, New York; earned an Independent Spirit Award Nomination for Best First Feature