Robert Brustein

Infobox Writer
name = Robert Brustein


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birthdate = April 21, 1927
birthplace = New York City
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occupation = theatrical critic, producer, playwright, educator
nationality = United States
period = 1959 - now
genre = theatre
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spouse =
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Robert Sanford Brustein (born April 21, 1927 in New York City) is an American theatrical critic, producer, playwright and educator. He founded both Yale Repertory Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut and the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, where he remains a Creative Consultant, and has been the theatre critic for "The New Republic" since 1959. He comments on politics for the "Huffington Post".

Brustein is a Senior Research Fellow at Harvard University and a Distinguished Scholar in Residence at Suffolk University in Boston [ [http://www.suffolk.edu/21013.html Celebrated Writer-Director Robert Brustein Joins Suffolk University] ] . He was elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters in 1999 [ [http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians_current.php Current Academicians] ] and in 2002 was inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame. [http://www.bestplaysonline.com/HOF2007.pdf Complete List of ATHOF Inductees (pdf)] ] In 2003 he served as a Senior Fellow with the National Arts Journalism Program [ [http://www.najp.org/fellowships/pastfellows.html National Arts Journalism Program Past Fellows] ] at Columbia University, and in 2004 and 2005 was a senior fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts Arts Journalism Institute in Theatre and Musical Theatre [ [http://annenberg.usc.edu/CentersandPrograms/ProfessionalEducation/NEAArtsJournalism/PrevFac.aspx#Brustein NEA Arts Journalism Institute Previous Faculty] ] at the University of Southern California.

Robert Brustein is married to Doreen Beinart, and has one son, Daniel Brustein, and two stepchildren, Peter Beinart and Jean Beinart Stern.

Education and Career

Brustein was educated at Amherst College, where he received a B.A. in 1948, and Columbia University, where he received an M.A. in 1949 and a Ph.D. in 1957. During this time, he served in the Merchant Marine on tankers and Victory ships, and later at Kings Point Academy on Long Island. He also held a Fulbright Fellowship to study in the United Kingdom from 1953 to 1955, where he directed plays at the University of Nottingham.Robert Brustein, [http://www.alumni.nottingham.ac.uk/Upload/Content/files/160/mag12.pdf "A Critic in the Making"] (pdf), "Nottingham Alumni Online", 2001. p.15] After teaching at Cornell University, Vassar College, and Columbia, he became Dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966, and served in that position until 1979. It was during this period that he founded the Yale Repertory Theatre.

In 1979, Brustein left Yale for Harvard University, where he founded the American Repertory Theatre (ART) and became a Professor of English. He served for twenty years as Director of the Loeb Drama Center where he founded the Institute for Advanced Theatre Training at Harvard. He retired from the Artistic Directorship of ART in 2002 and now serves as Founding Director and Creative Consultant.

As the Artistic Director of Yale Rep from 1966 to 1979, and of ART from 1980 to 2002, Brustein supervised over 200 productions, acting in eight and directing twelve.

Critical writing

Brustein has been the theatre critic for "The New Republic" since 1959, and is the author of fifteen books on theatre and society:

*1964: "The Theatre of Revolt: An Approach to Modern Drama" (Little, Brown) ISBN 0929587537 – essays on Ibsen, Stringberg, Chekov, Shaw, Brecht, Pirandello, O'Neill, and Artaud and Genet, considered a "standard critical text on modern drama" [ [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C04EFD71039F93BA35752C0A961958260&scp=5&sq=%22theater+of+revolt%22 A Havoc of Meddling Fools Wrapped Up in One Man] ]

*1965: "Seasons of Discontent: Dramatic Opinions 1959-1965" (Simon and Schuster) ISBN none – "an assemblage of his best magazine pieces from 1959 to [1965] " [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=eFQoAAAAMAAJ&q=Seasons+of+Discontent&dq=Seasons+of+Discontent&lr=&ei=tNSSR4ykIInE6wLw0fmiBw&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1 Kirkus Reviews] ]

*1969: "The Third Theatre" (Knopf) ISBN 0671205374 – "a collection of pieces written between 1957 and 1968 ... that deal not only with theatre but also with literature, culture, and the movies" (from the Preface). [ [http://www.abebooks.com/servlet/BookDetailsPL?bi=638256797 Book Detail] ]

*1971: "Revolution as Theatre: Notes on the New Radical Style" (Liveright) ISBN 0871402386 – examines campus turmoil, radicalism versus liberalism, the fate of the free university, the new revolutionary life style, the decadence of American society, and the sentimentality and false emotionalism of radical alternatives [ [http://www2.wwnorton.com/catalog/backlist/040045.htm Norton catalog] ]

*1975: "The Culture Watch: Essays on Theatre and Society, 1969-1974 " (Knopf) ISBN 0394498143 – "As far as these bristling exhortations go, well, you have to wish the gadfly well" [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=9RoOAAAAMAAJ&q=The+Culture+Watch&dq=The+Culture+Watch&lr=&ei=79WSR4z0JYeC7gKLnIyZBw&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1 Kirkus Reviews] ]

*1980: "Critical Moments: Reflection on Theatre & Society, 1973-1979" (Random House) – "Can the Show Go On?", "The Future of the Endowments", "The Artist and the Citizen" and other essays on the state of American theatre. [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=MO9bn0h2BUcC&q=Critical+Moments&dq=Critical+Moments&lr=&ei=O9OSR6C3JpeS7QKX54i1Bw&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1 Google Books] ]

*1981: "Making Scenes: A Personal History of the Turbulent Years at Yale, 1966-1979" (Random House) ISBN 0394510941 – Brustein looks at his time at Yale as part "of a larger social and cultural pattern" [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=PsKCJ1E2Qh4C&dq=inauthor:Robert+inauthor:Brustein&lr=&ei=LsaSR4ClKYTS7QKK9LSgBw&ie=ISO-8859-1&pgis=1 Kirkus Reviews] ]

*1987: "Who Needs Theatre: Dramatic Opinions" (Atlantic Monthly) ISBN 0571151949 – a collection of reviews and essays including "an assessment of hits like 'Cats' and '42nd Street', Polish theatre, drama on apartheid and the Broadway vogue for British imports." [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=7vmTGwAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:Robert+inauthor:Brustein&ei=ycWSR66qDZvU7AKj48izBw&ie=ISO-8859-1 Google Books] ]

*1991: "Reimagining American Theatre" (Hill & Wang) ISBN 0809080583 – reviews and essays, mostly from "The New Republic" considering the state of American theater in the 1980s. [ [http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/ASIN/0809080583 Publishers Weekly] ]

*1994: "Dumbocracy in America: Studies in the Theatre of Guilt, 1987-1994" (Ivan R. Dee) ISBN 1566630983 – "uses the prism of the American theatre to explore the motivating impulses behind rampant political correctness and to assess government efforts to regulate the arts" [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=AssJAAAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:Robert+inauthor:Brustein&ei=ycWSR66qDZvU7AKj48izBw&ie=ISO-8859-1 Google Books] ]

*1998: "Cultural Calisthenics: Writings on Race, Politics, and Theatre" (Ivan R. Dee) ISBN 1566632668 – "Many of these essays ... are concerned with how "extra-artistic considerations'" – multiculturalism, gay rights, women's issues and political correctness – impair current thought, including that of arts funding agencies." [ [http://www.nytimes.com/books/98/11/08/bib/981108.rv104840.html Robin Lippincott in the "New York Times"] ]

*2001: "The Siege of the Arts: Collected Writings, 1994-2001" (Ivan R. Dee) ISBN 156663380X – "The opening essays lead the charge against The Three Horsemen of the Anti-Culture: political, moral, and middlebrow aesthetic correctness ... allied with corporate capitalism and a rigid multiculturalism" [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=cLYHAAAACAAJ&dq=inauthor:Robert+inauthor:Brustein&ei=ycWSR66qDZvU7AKj48izBw&ie=ISO-8859-1 Kirkus Reviews] ]

*2005: "Letters to a Young Actor: A Universal Guide to Performance" (Basic Books) ISBN 0465008062 – "A guidebook for performers on stage and screen [which] aims to inspire struggling dramatists and also reinvigorate the very state of the art of acting itself." [ [http://books.google.com/books?id=OJ4nmapyyiwC&dq=inauthor:Robert+inauthor:Brustein&ie=ISO-8859-1 Google Books] ]

*2006: "Millennial Stages: Essays and Reviews 2001-2005" (Yale Univ. Press) ISBN 0300115776 – "examines crucial issues relating to theater in the post-9/11 years, analyzing specific plays, emerging and established performers, and theatrical production throughout the world" [ [http://yalepress.yale.edu/YUPBOOKS/book.asp?isbn=9780300115772 Yale University Press catalog] ]

*2008: "Shakespeare’s Prejudices" (due)

Brustein was the writer and narrator of a WNET television series in 1966 called "The Opposition Theatre". He also comments on contemporary social and political issues for the "Huffington Post".

;Conflict with August WilsonIn 1996 and 1997, Brustein was involved in an extended public debate – through their essays, speeches and personal appearances – with African-American playwright August Wilson about multiculturalism, color-blind casting, and other issues where race impacts on the craft and practice of theatre in America. [William Grimes, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1DC173EF930A25751C1A960958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "On Stage and Off: Face to Face on Multiculturalism"] , "New York Times" (13 December 1996).] [William Grimes, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9F00E7D81E3AF93AA15752C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Face-to-Face Encounter on Race in the Theater"] , "New York Times" (29 January 1997).] [Frank Rich, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9506E5D8153DF932A35751C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Two Mouths Running"] , "New York Times" (1 February, 1997)] [Margo Jefferson, [http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9C00E3DD113DF937A35751C0A961958260&sec=&spon=&pagewanted=all "Oratory vs. Really Talking About Culture"] , "New York Times" (4 February 1997).] [ [http://www.princetoninfo.com/wilson.html Wilson vs. Brustein] ]

Playwright

As a playwright, Brustein has both adapted the material of others and written his own original plays.

Adaptations

During his tenure at ART, Brustein wrote eleven adaptations, including Henrik Ibsen's "The Wild Duck," [ [http://www.amrep.org/past/duck/duck.html ART Past Productions: The Wild Duck] ] "The Master Builder", [ [http://www.amrep.org/past/master/master.html ART Past Productions: The Master Builder] ] and "When We Dead Awaken", the last directed by Robert Wilson; "Three Farces and a Funeral", [ [http://www.amrep.org/past/farces/farces.html ART Past Productions: Three Farces and a Funeral] ] adapted from the works and life of Anton Chekhov; Luigi Pirandello's "Enrico IV"; [ [http://www.amrep.org/enrico/ ART Past Productions: Enrico IV] ] and Brustein's final production at ART, "Lysistrata" [ [http://www.amrep.org/lysistrata/ ART Past Productions: Lysistrata] ] by Aristophanes, directed by Andrei Serban.

Adaptations which he also directed while at ART include a Pirandello trilogy: "Six Characters in Search of an Author", [ [http://www.amrep.org/past/characters/char.html ART Past Productions: Six Characters] ] which won the Boston Theatre Award for Best Production of 1996, "Right You Are (If You Think You Are)", and "Tonight We Improvise"; Ibsen's Ghosts, Strindberg's The Father, and Thomas Middleton's The Changeling. [ [http://www.thecrimson.com/article.aspx?ref=239644 Harvard Crimson review] ]

Brustein also wrote "Shlemiel the First", based on the stories of Isaac Bashevis Singer and set to traditional klezmer music, which was directed and choreographed by David Gordon. [According to Alvin Klein, writing in the " [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?_r=2&res=990CE0D61E38F93AA35757C0A963958260&oref=slogin&oref=login New York Times] ": "It can be said that Singer is the original author, Mr. Brustein is the adapter and Mr. Gordon is the auteur."] After the original presentation in 1994 at ART [ [http://www.amrep.org/past/shlemiel/shlemiel.html ART Past Productions: Shlemiel the First] ] and in Philadelphia at the American Music Theatre Festival, who co-produced the show, "Shlemiel the First" was revived several times in Cambridge and subsequently played at the Lincoln Center Serious Fun Festival, the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco, [ [http://www.act-sf.org/site/PageServer?pagename=about_history_production#1996 ACT Production History] ] and the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles [ [http://www.variety.com/review/VE1117906270.html?categoryid=31&cs=1 Variety review] ] , as well as touring theatres on the east coast of Florida and in Stamford, Connecticut. [ [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=990CE0D61E38F93AA35757C0A963958260 'Shlemiel' Continues A Path to Broadway] ] The play has also been produced at Theater J [ [http://washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/theater-j/07-08-season/shlemiel-the-first/shlemiel-the-first-main-page.html Theater Shlemiel the First] ] in Washington, DC.

Original works

Brustein's full-length plays include "Demons", "Nobody Dies on Friday", "The Face Lift", "Spring Forward, Fall Back", and "The English Channel".

"Demons", which was broadcast on WGBH radio in 1993, had its stage world premiere as part of the American Repertory Theatre New Stages Season. "Nobody Dies on Friday" was given its world premiere in the same series [ [http://www.amrep.org/past/friday/friday.html ART Past Productions: Nobody Dies On Friday] ] and was presented at the Singapore Arts Festival and the Pushkin Theatre in Moscow. It was included in Marisa Smith's anthology "New Playwrights: Best Plays of 1998". [ISBN 157525171X]

"Spring Forward, Fall Back" was produced in 2006 at the Vineyard Playhouse [ [http://www.vineyardplayhouse.org/aboutus/productionhistory.html Vineyard Playhouse Production History] ] on Martha's Vineyard and at Theater J [ [http://washingtondcjcc.org/center-for-arts/theater-j/archives/#20062007_Season 2006-2007 Season] ] in Washington. "The English Channel" was produced at the C. Walsh Theatre of Suffolk University in Boston and at the Vineyard Playhouse in the fall of 2007. [ [http://www.vineyardplayhouse.org/shows/englishchannel.html Vineyard Playhouse: The English Channel] ]

His short plays "Poker Face", "Chekhov on Ice", "Divestiture", "AnchorBimbo", "Noises", "Terrorist Skit", "Airport Hell", "Beachman’s Last Poetry Reading", and "Enter William Shakespeare" were all presented by the Boston Playwrights' Theatre. [ [http://www.bu.edu/bpt/about/productions.html BPT: Production History] ]

Awards and honors

Robert Brustein has been the recipient of many awards and honors, including:

* c.1953: Fulbright Fellowship to the University of Nottingham, 1953-1955
* 1961: John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation Fellowship [ [http://www.gf.org/61fellow.html 1961 Fellows] ]
* 1962, 1987: Twice winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism: [ [http://www.arts.cornell.edu/english/awards/nathan/ George Jean Nathan Award] ] in 1962 for his reviews in "Commentary", "Partisan Review", "Harpers" and "New Republic"; [ [http://www.arts.cornell.edu/english/awards/nathan/previous.html#1962 1962 Nathan winner] ] and in 1987 for "Who Needs Theatre: Dramatic Opinions" [ [http://www.arts.cornell.edu/english/awards/nathan/previous.html#1987 1987 Nathan winner] ] . Brustein is the only person to have received this award more than once.
* 1964: George Polk Award for Journalism (Criticism) [ [http://www.brooklyn.liu.edu/polk/prev/prev60.html#64 1964 winners] ]
* 1984: the 2nd Elliot Norton Award For Professional Excellence in Boston Theatre, known at the time as the Norton Prize, presented by the Boston Theatre District Association, and now given by StageSource: the Greater Boston Theatre Alliance [ [http://www.stagesource.org/pages/1993_1st_thru_9th_elliot_norton_awards_1983_1991.cfm 1st thru 9th Norton Award winners] ]
* 1985: New England Theatre Conference's Major Award for outstanding creative achievement in the American theatre [ [http://www.netconline.org/major-award-recipients.php#1980 NETC Major Award winners of the 1980s] ]
* 1995: American Academy of Arts and Letters Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts [ [http://www.artsandletters.org/awards_popup.php?abbrev=Distinguished Award Winners] ]
* 1999: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters [ [http://www.artsandletters.org/academicians_current.php Current Academicians] ]
* 2000: Association for Theatre in Higher Education Career Achievement Award for Professional Theatre [ [http://www.athe.org/getinvolved/governingcouncil/standing05/careerachievementawards?SESS78f87c84978b70e41ea16a160971e0a6=77b450e560c5005f6b716554209030b6 ATHE Career Achievement Award] ]
* 2001: The Commonwealth Award for Organizational Leadership (Massachusetts' highest honor) [ [http://www.massculturalcouncil.org/conference/bios_01.html 2001 Winners] ]
* 2002: Inducted into the American Theatre Hall of Fame [ [http://www.broadwaybeat.com/ridge/TheaterHallOfFame.htm Robert Ridge: Broadway Beat] ]
* 2003: United States Institute for Theatre Technology Lifetime Achievement Award [ [http://www.usitt.org/activities/awards/UsittAward.html USITT Award Winners] ]
* 2003: National Corporate Theatre Fund Chairman's Award for Achievement in Theatre [ [http://www.playbill.com/news/article/78745.html Playbill News: Mulgrew, Jones, Durang Honor Robert Brustein] ]
* 2005: Gann Academy Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts [ [http://www.dailynewstranscript.com/archive/x1923835304 Around Waltham] ]
* 2008: Eugene O'Neill Foundation's Tao House Award for serving the American theatre with distinction [ [http://www.eugeneoneill.org/events.htm#conf 2008 International O'Neill Conference] ]

In addition, Brustein received the Pirandello Medal, and a medal from the Egyptian government for contributions to world theatre. His papers are currently housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at Boston University. [ [http://www.bu.edu/archives/news/pressmain/111803.html Howard Gottlieb Archival Reseacrh Center Acquires the Person Archive of Robert Brustein] ]

References

Notes

Bibliography

Marilyn J. Plotkins, "The American Repertory Theatre Reference Book: The Brustein Years", 2005. ISBN 0313289131

ee also

*American Repertory Theatre
*Yale Repertory Theatre

External links

* [http://www.huffingtonpost.com/robert-brustein Robert Brustein on "Huffington Post"]
* [http://www.amrep.org/people/bob.html Robert Brustein bio on the ART website]
* [http://topics.nytimes.com/top/reference/timestopics/people/b/robert_brustein/index.html Robert Brustein in the "New York Times" index]
* [http://books.google.com/books?as_auth=Robert+Brustein&ots=_KX67UwQms&sa=X&oi=print&ct=title&cad=author-navigational&hl=en Robert Brustein on Google Books]
* [http://www.amrep.org The American Repertory Theatre's website]