Beloved theater director, acknowledged father of San Diego’s African-American theater and UCSD Professor Emeritus, Dr. Floyd Gaffney died of stomach cancer July 19 at Thornton Hospital in La Jolla. He was 77.
“He was amazing, a mentor and a father to me,” said T. J. (Antonio) Johnson, executive director of San Diego Black Ensemble Theatre, which recently produced, along with and at Cygnet Theatre, a distinguished series of staged readings of August Wilson plays.
In March, Gaffney directed a dynamic reading of Wilson’s “Joe Turner’s Come and Gone” at Cygnet and more recently staged the world premiere of “Josephine Tonight!” at San Diego Repertory Theatre. Other brilliant stars in his decades-long directorial firmament are “The Gospel at Colonus,” “Before it Hits Home,” “Handel’s Messiah: A Soulful Celebration,” and “Amahl and the Night Visitors.”
Gaffney cast Johnson in his circa 1990 Southeast Community Theatre production of Wilson’s “Fences” at the Lyceum, then had doubts.
“He told me he didn’t think I was ready, and then, once rehearsals started, he seemed to forget ever having made that remark,” said Johnson, who is now one of the city’s most accomplished and cherished actors. “He could say something that had you laughing all week, then say something else that made you furious. He was single-mindedly passionate about theater.
"Relentless is the word. He didn’t let anyone or anything deter him, even when others insisted that the task was impossible. ‘We’re going to do that show; we can do that show,’ he’d say, even when there was no money. The night before ‘Gospel at Colonus’ opened, it was a mess. Everybody was yelling. But he pulled it together and the show brought down the house. He was a wonderful gift to our community and the community at large.”
Johnson reported that on the Monday prior to his Thursday death, Dr. Gaffney called a bedside meeting to discuss the future of African-American Theatre in San Diego and to exhort everyone to keep on, to work toward building a collaboration between the African-American theaters and to find a home space that can be shared.
“He was also adamant about an acting academy for inner-city children,” Johnson said.
Gaffney extracted pledges to do so from Johnson, Ira Aldridge Players artistic director Calvin Manson, and actors Candace Trotter and Grandison Phelps III. The January 2008 production of “Fences” at Cygnet Theatre will be dedicated to Dr. Gaffney.
The youngest of five children, Dr. Gaffney was born in Cleveland in 1930. He received bachelor’s and master’s degrees in theater at Adelphi University and a Ph.D. in theatre at Carnegie Mellon University. He taught at UCSD from 1971-1994, when he was named Professor Emeritus. Over the years he staged more than 80 productions for Southeast Community Theatre. Under his leadership that group was renamed Common Ground Theatre in 2004 to better reflect the theater’s cross-cultural mission.
Dr. Gaffney is survived by his wife, Yvonne; daughters Michele Gaffney of Escondido and well-known actress Monique Gaffney of Poway; sons Antoine Gaffney of Poway and Brett Gaffney of Solana Beach; and a brother, Dr. Caldwell Gaffney of Bowie, Md.
Services are as follows:
Visitation: 4 p.m.-8 p.m. Thursday, July 26, Christian Fellowship Congregational Church of Christ, 1601 Kelton Rd., San Diego, 92114
Homegoing Celebration: 11 a.m. Friday, July 27, Bayview Baptist Church, 6126 Benson Ave., San Diego CA 92114. Following the burial service, a repast will be served at Bayview Baptist Church.