Joseph A. Walker (playwright) - Artistic Career

Artistic Career

He then began the pursuit of an acting career In 1966. He began studying voice and vocal reproduction from Brook Alexander, and at the end of that year joined Voices, Inc. He remained narrator, lead singer and artistic director of this organization until The Believers was produced in 1968. The Believers was co-authored by Walker and Josephine Jackson.

In 1969 to 1975, he taught at CCNY Leonard Davis Center of Performing Arts. as an Associate Professor in the Speech and Theatre Department. Also in 1969 he met Moses Gun who introduced him to Douglas Turner Ward, the Artistic director of The Negro Ensemble Company (NEC), which led to the production of The Harangues, opening the 1969-70 season. Ododo, which Walker wrote, directed and co-choreographed opened with mixed reviews in the 1970-71 season at NEC, whose music was composed and directed by his second wife Dorothy Ann Dinroe-Walker, also a Howard University graduate. Walker married Dorothy A. Dinroe in 1970, a match made in their love for the arts.

During this time Walker, wanting to create his own theatre company thereby became the artistic director of the Demi-Gods. The Demi-Gods, was co-founded along with wife Dinroe-Walker, between 1970 and 1974. In 1971-72, Walker along with Dorothy A. Walker co-produced Yin-Yang at the African American Studio. In 1972-73, Douglas Turner Ward went into production for the The River Niger. The response to The River Niger was so overwhelming that the play was moved to the Brooks Atkinson Theatre on Broadway in 1973, where it won the Tony Award in 1974. In this same year his first daughter, Kumina Walker, was born.

Walker received 400 hours towards a Motion Picture Production Certificate received at the Germaine School of Photography, New York City, in 1973. He also completed 28 credits towards his Ph.D. program in Cinema Studies at New York University, and was honored as Playwright-in-Residence at Yale School of Drama.