Robert Lyons (born July 6, 1959) is an American writer, playwright and director, best known as the artistic director the two-time

OBIE Award The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given since 1956 by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theater artists and groups involved in off-Broadway and off-off-Broadway productions in New York City. Starting just after th ...

-winning

New Ohio Theatre The New Ohio Theatre is a performance venue in the West Village of Manhattan in New York City. Located at 154 Christopher Street, the theater was established by Robert Lyons as the SoHo Think Tank in 1994. After losing the lease on his SoHo spa ...

in Manhattan.

Early years

Robert Lyons was born in

Detroit Detroit ( , ) is the List of municipalities in Michigan, most populous city in the U.S. state of Michigan. It is situated on the bank of the Detroit River across from Windsor, Ontario. It had a population of 639,111 at the 2020 United State ...

, Michigan, and grew up in the suburbs of the city. His father worked as a white-collar employee for Chrysler and his mother as a secretary in the public school system. He graduated from

Michigan State University Michigan State University (Michigan State or MSU) is a public university, public Land-grant university, land-grant research university in East Lansing, Michigan, United States. It was founded in 1855 as the Agricultural College of the State o ...

with a BA in English and then worked as a poet and short story writer. Lyons first became interested in theater after graduating from college. According to Lyons, "I was bumming around the East coast, and I saw a theatre company do an opening act for Luther "Guitar Junior" Johnson in a dive bar in

Gloucester, Massachusetts Gloucester ( ) is a city in Essex County, Massachusetts, United States. It sits on Cape Ann and is a part of North Shore (Massachusetts), Massachusetts's North Shore. The population was 29,729 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 U.S. Census. ...

. I hung out with the actors and director at the bar during the set, and I thought they seemed pretty cool. That night I rewrote a short story into a play ..." The play he had seen was by

Israel Horovitz Israel Horovitz (March 31, 1939 – November 9, 2020) was an American playwright, director, actor and co-founder of the Gloucester Stage Company in 1979. He served as artistic director until 2006 and later served on the board, ex officio and ...

. Lyons located a summer internship at People's Light and Theatre in Pennsylvania where he found

Murphy Guyer Murphy Guyer (born December 25, 1952) is an American actor, playwright, writer and director, best known for his plays and for appearances in the films '' The Devil's Advocate'' (1997), '' The Jackal'' (1997), ''Arthur'' (2011) and '' Joker'' (2 ...

as a role model. At the end of the summer, Lyons directed a play he had written and won a $50 prize for Best Intern Show.

Career

In 1987 Lyons was working as the production manager for a company called Project III that produced a show at the

Off-Off-Broadway Off-off-Broadway theaters are smaller New York City theaters than Broadway theatre, Broadway and off-Broadway theaters, and usually have fewer than 100 seats. The off-off-Broadway movement began in 1958 as part of a response to perceived commerc ...

Ohio Theatre. Finding the space often sat empty, he contacted its founders and the landlords and offered to supervise it. He ran the 90-seat theater for 23 years, setting up innovative and cutting-edge performances. In 2008 the building was sold. When the new landlords refused to renew his lease in 2010, the theater closed, and Lyons established the

in the West Village. Besides being active as a playwright and director, Lyons also teaches theater courses at

Sarah Lawrence College Sarah Lawrence College (SLC) is a Private university, private liberal arts college in Yonkers, New York, United States. Founded as a Women's colleges in the United States, women's college in 1926, Sarah Lawrence College has been coeducational ...

Works

Lyons is a prolific playwright. Selected works include: ''My Onliness'' ''Yovo'' ''Last Gasp of the Liberal Class'' *''Nostradamus Predicts the Death of Soho'' *''Red-Haired Thomas'' *''Doorman’s Double Duty'' *''PR Man'' *''No Meat No Irony'' *''The Naked Anarchist'' *''Dream Conspiracy'' *''Creature of the Deep'' *''No Thanks/Thanks'' *''Vater Knows Best'' *''Floor Boards'' *''Lush Valley'' Commissioned works include: *''The Possessed'' by Dostoevsky *''How it Ended'' by Jay McInerney.

Personal life

Lyons lives in New York City's West Village with his wife, playwright and director Lenora Champagne, and their daughter Amelie.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyons, Robert Living people 21st-century American writers American musical theatre directors American theatre managers and producers Writers from New York City 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 1959 births Writers from Detroit Michigan State University alumni