Theatre Alumnus Carl Cofield '14 Named Incoming Chair of Graduate Acting at NYU

By
Amanda Breen
April 02, 2021

Theatre alumnus Carl Cofield ’14 will serve as the Chair of Graduate Acting at New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts beginning in September of 2021. 

“Carl has been an esteemed actor and director in New York and regional circles for over two decades; his love for the actor's art will be a beacon for the next generation,” Tisch’s site states. “We welcome Carl to our community and look forward to all being together under his leadership in the Fall.” 

Cofield is a New York-based actor and director. In 2018, he was appointed the Associate Artistic Director of the Off-Broadway award-winning Classical Theatre of Harlem (CTH). He has directed productions of The Bacchae (New York Times Critic’s Pick), AntigoneMacbethThe Tempest, and Dutchman for CTH. 

Additionally, Cofield directed the award-winning world premiere of Kemp Power’s One Night in Miami, for which he received the Los Angeles NAACP award for Best Director, for Rogue Machine Theater in Los Angeles and the Denver Center Theatre. He also directed the production of Disgraced, written by Film alumnus Ayad Akhtar ’02, for the Denver Center Theater. 

His other directing credits include Twelfth Night for Yale Repertory Theatre, Radio Golf for Everyman Theatre, Henry IV Part II for the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, A Raisin in the Sun for Two River Theater Company, The Mountain Top for Cleveland Play House, The Balcony for the New School, Better Than Yellow for 48 Hours in Harlem, The Seven for the Connelly Theatre, A Midsummer’s Night Dream for NYU, 1001 for Columbia University, and The Tuskegee Airman Project for CUNY York College. He assisted Ken Gash on Langston in Harlem at Urban Stages and Molly Smith in the world premiere of Laurence Wright’s Camp David at Arena Stage. He directed the reading of Camp David for President and First Lady Carter at the Carter Center retreat in Vail, Colorado.

He has received an LA Drama Critics Circle Award and many AUDELCO nominations. 

As an actor, Cofield has appeared at The Manhattan Theatre Club, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Alliance Theatre, Arena Stage, The Shakespeare Theater, Intiman Theatre, Actors Theater of Louisville, Shakespeare Santa Cruz, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Alabama Shakespeare, The McCarter Theatre Center, The Acting Company, The Studio Theatre, and elsewhere. 

Cofield graduated from the University of Miami with a BFA in theatre performance prior to attending the School of the Arts for Directing. He has taught at Columbia University, NYU, and the New School.