Willie Reale

Willie Reale is an American playwright and lyricist who often works with his elder brother Robert Reale.

He had small acting roles in The Hudsucker Proxy, The Laser Man, Tales from the Darkside and The Burning. He is also one of the major creative forces behind the 2009 revival of The Electric Company.

52nd Street Project

Reale founded the 52nd Street Project in 1981, an organization that brings inner-city children together with professional theater artists to create works. He served as the artistic director for eighteen years and produced hundreds of plays with the Project, which has been replicated at twelve sites across the United States, using a series of publications called the Kid Theater Kit.

Personal life

Reale is married to producer Jenny Gersten. They have two children, Augustus and Leonardo.

Awards and nominations

• Academy Award for Best Original Song (with Henry Krieger) for "Patience" from Dreamgirls.
• Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (2003) for A Year with Frog and Toad.
• Tony Award for Best Original Score (2003) (with Robert Reale) for A Year with Frog and Toad.
• Writers Guild of America Award (2004) (with Mark Palmer) for Out There.

In June 1994, he was awarded a MacArthur Fellowship in recognition of his ingenuity in creating theater and theater education programs for young people.

Plays

• Fast Women
• Many Happy Returns
• Short And Sweet

Musicals

• "Johnny Baseball (2010 musical)" (American Repertory Theater)
• A Year with Frog and Toad (Broadway)—2003
• The Dinosaur Musical
• Once Around the City
• Quark Victory
• Short And Sweet
• Many Happy Returns
• A Little Soul-Searching
• Fast Women

Television

• Haskett's Chance
• Tilt
• The Jury
• Keen Eddie
• Out There
• Deadline
• Homicide: Life on the Street
• Living And Working in Space: the Countdown Has Begun
• The Electric Company (2009 version)