Charles "Word" Baker (March 21, 1923 – October 31, 1995) was an American theatre director and teacher who is most famous for mounting the original off-Broadway production of The Fantasticks.
He first found his love of music and theatre by listening to his mother Maggie teach and play the organ at the local Presbyterian church.
After high school Baker decided to study drama at the University of Texas at Austin, where he met future collaborators Tom Jones and Harvey Schmidt.
The original production of The Fantasticks, in the small 150-seat theatre, spawned a run that lasted more than forty years and for 17,162 performances.
Baker taught theatrical directing at institutions such as Carnegie Mellon, Boston Conservatory, University of Cincinnati – College-Conservatory of Music, and his alma mater.