Willie Reale

Willie Reale grew up in Park Ridge, New Jersey with four brothers and a sister. In 1981, Reale founded The 52nd Street Project, an organization that brings inner-city children together with professional theater artists. He served as the theater's artistic director for 18 years. He wrote "52 Pick Up," the Project's how-to manual. The 52nd Street Project's programs are currently being replicated at 14 sites across country and in Europe. In June of 1994, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his ingenuity in creating theater and theater education programs for young people. The 52nd Street Project was recognized by a "Coming Up Taller" Award from the Clinton White House. Other theater credits include "Once Around the City" (book and lyrics), which was produced Off-Broadway at the Second Stage Company. He was nominated for two Tony Awards for A Year With Frog and Toad, which he wrote with his brother, composer Robert Reale. With his brother (and Richard Dresser) he has written Johnny Baseball, which was produced at the American Repertory Theater. Mr. Reale has an Academy Award nomination in the best song category for his work as a lyricist on the movie Dreamgirls and has won 3 Emmy awards for as the writer/producer behind the recent reinvention of 1970's literacy classic, The Electric Company, now airing on PBS. Willie has worked written extensively for network television and has been nominated 3 times for Writer's Guild Awards. He is married to theater producer, Jenny Gersten. They have two children, Augustus and Leonardo.