Robert Sanford Brustein (April 21, 1927 – October 29, 2023) was an American theatrical critic, producer, playwright, writer, and educator. He founded the

Yale Repertory Theatre Yale Repertory Theatre at Yale University in New Haven, Connecticut was founded by Robert Brustein, dean of Yale School of Drama, in 1966, with the goal of facilitating a meaningful collaboration between theatre professionals and talented stud ...

while serving as dean of the

Yale School of Drama The David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University is a graduate professional school of Yale University, located in New Haven, Connecticut. Founded in 1924 as the Department of Drama in the School of Fine Arts, the school provides training in ...

New Haven New Haven is a city of the U.S. state of Connecticut. It is located on New Haven Harbor on the northern shore of Long Island Sound. With a population of 135,081 as determined by the 2020 U.S. census, New Haven is the third largest city in Co ...

Connecticut Connecticut ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the New England region of the Northeastern United States. It borders Rhode Island to the east, Massachusetts to the north, New York (state), New York to the west, and Long Island Sound to the south. ...

, as well as the

American Repertory Theater The American Repertory Theater (A.R.T.) is a professional not-for-profit theater in Cambridge, Massachusetts. Founded in 1979 by Robert Brustein, the A.R.T. is known for its commitment to new American plays and music–theater explorations; to ne ...

and

Institute for Advanced Theater Training The American Repertory Theater/Moscow Art Theatre (ART/МХАТ) Institute for Advanced Theater Training at Harvard University was founded in 1987 as a training ground for the new American Theater by Robert Brustein. The institute has been reside ...

Harvard University Harvard University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in Cambridge, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1636 and named for its first benefactor, the History of the Puritans in North America, Puritan clergyma ...

Cambridge, Massachusetts Cambridge ( ) is a city in Middlesex County, Massachusetts, United States. It is a suburb in the Greater Boston metropolitan area, located directly across the Charles River from Boston. The city's population as of the 2020 United States census, ...

, where he was a creative consultant until his death, and was the theatre critic for ''

The New Republic ''The New Republic'' (often abbreviated as ''TNR'') is an American magazine focused on domestic politics, news, culture, and the arts from a left-wing perspective. It publishes ten print magazines a year and a daily online platform. ''The New Y ...

''. He commented on politics for the ''

HuffPost ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. Brustein was a senior research fellow at

and a distinguished scholar in residence at

Suffolk University Suffolk University is a private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. With 7,560 students on all campuses, it is the List of colleges and universities in metropolitan Boston, tenth-largest university ...

Boston Boston is the capital and most populous city in the Commonwealth (U.S. state), Commonwealth of Massachusetts in the United States. The city serves as the cultural and Financial centre, financial center of New England, a region of the Northeas ...

. He was elected to the

American Academy of Arts and Letters The American Academy of Arts and Letters is a 300-member honor society whose goal is to "foster, assist, and sustain excellence" in American literature, Music of the United States, music, and Visual art of the United States, art. Its fixed number ...

in 1999,Current Academicians
/ref> and in 2002, was inducted into the

American Theater Hall of Fame The American Theater Hall of Fame was founded in 1972 in New York City. The first head of its executive committee was Earl Blackwell. In an announcement in 1972, he said that the new ''Theater Hall of Fame'' would be located in the Uris Theatre, ...

.Complete List of ATHOF Inductees (pdf)
/ref> In 2003, he served as a senior fellow with the National Arts Journalism Program at

Columbia University Columbia University in the City of New York, commonly referred to as Columbia University, is a Private university, private Ivy League research university in New York City. Established in 1754 as King's College on the grounds of Trinity Churc ...

, and in 2004/2005, was a senior fellow at the

National Endowment for the Arts The National Endowment for the Arts (NEA) is an independent agency of the United States federal government that offers support and funding for projects exhibiting artistic excellence. It was created in 1965 as an independent agency of the feder ...

Arts Journalism Institute in Theatre and Musical Theatre at the

University of Southern California The University of Southern California (USC, SC, or Southern Cal) is a Private university, private research university in Los Angeles, California, United States. Founded in 1880 by Robert M. Widney, it is the oldest private research university in ...

. In 2010, he was awarded the

National Medal of Arts The National Medal of Arts is an award and title created by the United States Congress in 1984, for the purpose of honoring artists and Patronage, patrons of the arts. A prestigious American honor, it is the highest honor given to artists and ar ...

by President

Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II (born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who was the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party, he was the first African American president in American history. O ...

Life and career

Robert Sanford Brustein was born in

Brooklyn Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, New York, on April 21, 1927, to Blanche Haft Brustein and Max Brustein. He grew up on the

Upper West Side The Upper West Side (UWS) is a neighborhood in the borough of Manhattan in New York City. It is bounded by Central Park on the east, the Hudson River on the west, West 59th Street to the south, and West 110th Street to the north. The Upper We ...

of Manhattan, residing in the same apartment building as

Sergei Rachmaninoff Sergei Vasilyevich Rachmaninoff; in Russian pre-revolutionary script. (28 March 1943) was a Russian composer, virtuoso pianist, and Conducting, conductor. Rachmaninoff is widely considered one of the finest pianists of his day and, as a compos ...

. In elementary and high school, his dream was "to be

Artie Shaw Artie Shaw (born Arthur Jacob Arshawsky; May 23, 1910 – December 30, 2004) was an American clarinetist, composer, bandleader, actor and author of both fiction and non-fiction. Widely regarded as "one of jazz's finest clarinetists", Shaw led ...

's successor as a

swing band Swing music is a style of jazz that developed in the United States during the late 1920s and early 1930s. It became nationally popular from the mid-1930s. Swing bands usually featured soloists who would improvise on the melody over the arrangement ...

leader." He was educated at

The High School of Music & Art The High School of Music & Art, informally known as Music & Art (or M&A), was a public specialized high school located at 443-465 West 135th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York, from 1936 until 1984. In 1961, Music & Art and the High Sc ...

, and

Amherst College Amherst College ( ) is a Private college, private Liberal arts colleges in the United States, liberal arts college in Amherst, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1821 as an attempt to relocate Williams College by its then-president Zepha ...

, where he received a BA in 1948 (briefly studying in the medieval history graduate program), the

for a year studying dramatic literature and criticism, and

, where he received an MA in 1950, and a PhD in 1957, in dramatic literature and cultural criticism, supervised by

Lionel Trilling Lionel Mordecai Trilling (July 4, 1905 – November 5, 1975) was an American literary critic, short story writer, essayist, and teacher. He was one of the leading U.S. critics of the 20th century who analyzed the contemporary cultural, social, ...

. His dissertation was on the playwright

John Marston John Marston is a character in the ''Red Dead'' video game series by Rockstar Games. He is the main playable protagonist of the 2010 video game ''Red Dead Redemption'', wherein he must deal with the decline of the Wild West while being force ...

. During a break from university, he served in the Merchant Marine on tankers and

Victory ship The Victory ship was a class of cargo ship produced in large numbers by American shipyards during World War II. They were a more modern design compared to the earlier Liberty ship, were slightly larger and had more powerful steam turbine engin ...

s, and later at Kings Point Academy on

Long Island Long Island is a densely populated continental island in southeastern New York (state), New York state, extending into the Atlantic Ocean. It constitutes a significant share of the New York metropolitan area in both population and land are ...

. He also held a

Fulbright Fellowship The Fulbright Program, including the Fulbright–Hays Program, is one of several United States cultural exchange programs with the goal of improving intercultural relations, cultural diplomacy, and intercultural competence between the people o ...

to study in the United Kingdom from 1953 to 1955, where he directed plays at the

University of Nottingham The University of Nottingham is a public research university in Nottingham, England. It was founded as University College Nottingham in 1881, and was granted a royal charter in 1948. Nottingham's main campus (University Park Campus, Nottingh ...

.Robert Brustein
"A Critic in the Making"
pdf), ''Nottingham Alumni Online'', 2001. p.15 After teaching at

Cornell University Cornell University is a Private university, private Ivy League research university based in Ithaca, New York, United States. The university was co-founded by American philanthropist Ezra Cornell and historian and educator Andrew Dickson W ...

Vassar College Vassar College ( ) is a private liberal arts college in Poughkeepsie, New York, United States. Founded in 1861 by Matthew Vassar, it was the second degree-granting institution of higher education for women in the United States. The college be ...

, and Columbia, where he became a full professor of dramatic literature in the English department, he became Dean of the

in 1966, and served in that position until 1979. It was during this period, in 1966, that he founded the

. In 1979, Brustein left Yale for

, where he founded the

(ART) and became a professor of English. At Harvard, he founded the

. He retired from the artistic directorship of ART in 2002, and then served on the faculty of the institute. He was a distinguished scholar in residence from 2007, at

, where he taught courses in

Shakespeare William Shakespeare ( 23 April 1564 – 23 April 1616) was an English playwright, poet and actor. He is widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's natio ...

Analysis."Robert Brustein"
on the

website 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.

Personal life and death

Brustein was married to actress Norma Ofstrock until her death in 1979. (Brustein was the stepfather to Norma Ofstrock's son from a previous marriage, Phil Cates). That marriage resulted in son Daniel Brustein. In 1996, he married activist and academic Doreen Beinart; through this marriage, he became the stepfather of journalist

Peter Beinart Peter Alexander Beinart (; born February 28, 1971) is an American liberal columnist, journalist, and political commentator. A former editor of ''The New Republic'', he has also written for ''Time'', ''The Atlantic'', and ''The New York Review of ...

and of Jean Stern. Brustein died at his home in

, on October 29, 2023, at the age of 96.

Critical writing

Brustein was the theatre critic for ''The New Republic'' from 1959 to "about 2000", and later contributed to ''

The Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers p ...

''. He authored sixteen books on theatre and society: *1964: ''The Theatre of Revolt: An Approach to Modern Drama'' (Little, Brown) – essays on

Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

Strindberg Johan August Strindberg (; ; 22 January 184914 May 1912) was a Swedish playwright, novelist, poet, essayist, and painter.Lane (1998), 1040. A prolific writer who often drew directly on his personal experience, Strindberg wrote more than 60 play ...

Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

, Shaw,

Brecht Eugen Berthold Friedrich Brecht (10 February 1898 – 14 August 1956), known as Bertolt Brecht and Bert Brecht, was a German theatre practitioner, playwright, and poet. Coming of age during the Weimar Republic, he had his first successes as a ...

, Pirandello,

O'Neill The O'Neill dynasty ( Irish: ''Ó Néill'') are a lineage of Irish Gaelic origin that held prominent positions and titles in Ireland and elsewhere. As kings of Cenél nEógain, they were historically one of the most prominent family of the Nor ...

, and

Artaud Antoine Maria Joseph Paul Artaud (; ; 4September 18964March 1948), better known as Antonin Artaud, was a French artist who worked across a variety of media. He is best known for his writings, as well as his work in the theatre and cinema. Widely ...

and Genet, considered a "standard critical text on modern drama" *1965: ''Seasons of Discontent: Dramatic Opinions 1959–1965'' (Simon and Schuster) ISBN none – "an assemblage of his best magazine pieces from 1959 to

965 Year 965 ( CMLXV) was a common year starting on Sunday of the Julian calendar. Events By place Byzantine Empire * Arab–Byzantine War: Emperor Nikephoros II conquers the fortress cities of Tarsus and Mopsuestia. The Muslim resid ...

*1969: ''The Third Theatre'' (Knopf) – "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). *1971: ''Revolution as Theatre: Notes on the New Radical Style'' (Liveright) – 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 *1975: ''The Culture Watch: Essays on Theatre and Society, 1969–1974 '' (Knopf) – "As far as these bristling exhortations go, well, you have to wish the gadfly well" *1980: ''Critical Moments: Reflection on Theatre & Society, 1973–1979'' (Random House) ISBN 0394510933 – "Can the Show Go On?", "The Future of the Endowments", "The Artist and the Citizen" and other essays on the state of American theatre. *1981: ''Making Scenes: A Personal History of the Turbulent Years at Yale, 1966–1979'' (Random House) – Brustein looks at his time at Yale as part "of a larger social and cultural pattern" *1987: ''Who Needs Theatre: Dramatic Opinions'' (Atlantic Monthly) – 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." *1991: ''Reimagining American Theatre'' (Hill & Wang) – reviews and essays, mostly from ''The New Republic'' considering the state of American theater in the 1980s. *1994: ''Dumbocracy in America: Studies in the Theatre of Guilt, 1987–1994'' (Ivan R. Dee) – "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" *1998: ''Cultural Calisthenics: Writings on Race, Politics, and Theatre'' (Ivan R. Dee) – "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." *2001: ''The Siege of the Arts: Collected Writings, 1994–2001'' (Ivan R. Dee) – "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" *2005: ''Letters to a Young Actor: A Universal Guide to Performance'' (Basic Books) – "A guidebook for performers on stage and screen

hich Ij () is a village in Golabar Rural District of the Central District in Ijrud County, Zanjan province, Iran Iran, officially the Islamic Republic of Iran (IRI) and also known as Persia, is a country in West Asia. It borders Iraq ...

aims to inspire struggling dramatists and also reinvigorate the very state of the art of acting itself." *2006: ''Millennial Stages: Essays and Reviews 2001–2005'' (Yale Univ. Press) – "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" *2009: ''The Tainted Muse: Prejudices and Preconceptions in Shakespeare's Works and Times'' "an untainted lens through which to see Shakespeare as never before" *2011: ''Rants and Raves: Opinions, Tributes, and Elegies'' *2014: ''Winter Passages: Essays and Criticism'' Brustein was the writer and narrator of a

WNET WNET (channel 13), branded on-air as Thirteen (stylized as THIRTEEN), is a primary PBS member television station licensed to Newark, New Jersey, United States, serving the New York City area. Owned by The WNET Group (formerly known as the Educ ...

television series in 1966 called ''The Opposition Theatre''. He also commented on contemporary social and political issues for the ''

Huffington Post ''HuffPost'' (''The Huffington Post'' until 2017, itself often abbreviated as ''HPo'') is an American progressive news website, with localized and international editions. The site offers news, satire, blogs, and original content, and covers ...

''.

Conflict with August Wilson

In 1996 and 1997, Brustein was involved in an extended public debate – through their essays, speeches and personal appearances – with African-American playwright

August Wilson August Wilson (né Frederick August Kittel Jr.; April 27, 1945 – October 2, 2005) was an American playwright. He has been referred to as the "theater's poet of Black America". He is best known for a series of 10 plays, collectively called '' ...

about

multiculturalism Multiculturalism is the coexistence of multiple cultures. The word is used in sociology, in political philosophy, and colloquially. In sociology and everyday usage, it is usually a synonym for ''Pluralism (political theory), ethnic'' or cultura ...

, color-blind casting, and other issues where race impacts on the craft and practice of theatre in America. "The feud," wrote Bruce Weber in the ''New York Times'', "... reached a climax in 1997 with an extraordinary public debate in front of a sold-out house at Town Hall in Midtown Manhattan."

Other conflicts

Brustein criticized the not-for-profit theaters for developing commercial work and becoming tryout houses for Broadway. His fellow directors of regional theaters felt betrayed. A series of articles and letters followed in the ''New York Times'' and elsewhere. Critics from the Boston Globe and the Boston Phoenix attacked Brustein for his dual roles as producer/director and theater critic, calling it a conflict of interest. The critic

Davi Napoleon Davi Napoleon, also known as Davida Skurnick and Davida Napoleon (born 1946), is an American theater historian and critic as well as a freelance feature writer. She is a regular contributor to '' Live Design'', a monthly magazine about entertainme ...

wrote an essay that included quotations from other critics who said that Brustein's dual roles made him uniquely qualified to review theater with insight and intelligence. Napoleon pointed out that while Brustein sometimes reviewed colleagues and former students, he did not always review them favorably.

Playwright

As a playwright, Brustein both authored plays and

adapted In biology, adaptation has three related meanings. Firstly, it is the dynamic evolutionary process of natural selection that fits organisms to their environment, enhancing their evolutionary fitness. Secondly, it is a state reached by the p ...

the material of other authors.

Adaptations

During his tenure at ART, Brustein wrote eleven adaptations, including

Henrik Ibsen Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright, poet and actor. Ibsen is considered the world's pre-eminent dramatist of the 19th century and is often referred to as "the father of modern drama." He pioneered ...

's ''

The Wild Duck ''The Wild Duck'' (original Norwegian title: ''Vildanden'') is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It explores the complexities of truth and illusion through the story of a family torn apart by secrets and the intrusion of a ...

,'' ''

The Master Builder ''The Master Builder'' () is a play by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. It was first published in December 1892 and is regarded as one of Ibsen's more significant and revealing works. Performance The play was published by Gyldendal AS in C ...

'', and ''

When We Dead Awaken ''When We Dead Awaken'' () is the last play written by Norwegian dramatist Henrik Ibsen. Published in December 1899, Ibsen wrote the play between February and November of that year. The first performance was at the Haymarket Theatre in London, a ...

'', the last directed by Robert Wilson; ''Three Farces and a Funeral'', adapted from the works and life of

Anton Chekhov Anton Pavlovich Chekhov (; ; 29 January 1860 – 15 July 1904) was a Russian playwright and short-story writer, widely considered to be one of the greatest writers of all time. His career as a playwright produced four classics, and his b ...

;

Luigi Pirandello Luigi Pirandello (; ; 28 June 1867 – 10 December 1936) was an Italians, Italian dramatist, novelist, poet, and short story writer whose greatest contributions were his plays. He was awarded the 1934 Nobel Prize in Literature "for his bold and ...

's ''

Enrico IV ''Henry IV'' ( ) is an Italian play ''(Enrico IV)'' by Luigi Pirandello written in 1921 and premiered to general acclaim at the Teatro Manzoni in Milan on 24 February 1922. A study on madness with comic and tragic elements, it is about a man ...

''; and Brustein's final production at ART, ''

Lysistrata ''Lysistrata'' ( or ; Attic Greek: , ''Lysistrátē'', ) is an ancient Greek comedy by Aristophanes, originally performed in classical Athens in 411 BC. It is a comic account of a woman's mission to end the Peloponnesian War between Greek city ...

'' by

Aristophanes Aristophanes (; ; ) was an Ancient Greece, Ancient Greek Ancient Greek comedy, comic playwright from Classical Athens, Athens. He wrote in total forty plays, of which eleven survive virtually complete today. The majority of his surviving play ...

, directed by

Andrei Serban Andrei Șerban (born June 21, 1943) is a Romanian- American theater director. A major name in twentieth-century theater, he is renowned for his innovative and iconoclastic interpretations and stagings. In 1992 he became Professor of Theater at t ...

. Adaptations which he also directed while at ART include a Pirandello trilogy: ''

Six Characters in Search of an Author ''Six Characters in Search of an Author'' ( ) is an Italian play by Luigi Pirandello, written and first performed in 1921. An absurdist metatheatric play about the relationship among authors, their characters, and theatre practitioners, it p ...

'', which won the Boston Theatre Award for Best Production of 1996, '' Right You Are (If You Think You Are)'', and ''

Tonight We Improvise ''Tonight We Improvise'' ( ) is a play by Luigi Pirandello.Ghosts In folklore, a ghost is the soul or Spirit (supernatural entity), spirit of a dead Human, person or non-human animal that is believed by some people to be able to appear to the living. In ghostlore, descriptions of ghosts vary widely, from a ...

, Chekhov's ''

The Cherry Orchard ''The Cherry Orchard'' () is the last play by Russian playwright Anton Chekhov. Written in 1903, it was first published by '' Znaniye'' (Book Two, 1904), and came out as a separate edition later that year in Saint Petersburg, via A.F. Marks Pu ...

'', Strindberg's

The Father Father is the male parent of a child. Father or The Father may also refer to: Name * Daniel Fathers (born 1966), a British actor * Father Yod (1922–1975), an American owner of one of the country's first health food restaurants Cinema * ''Fa ...

, and

Thomas Middleton Thomas Middleton (baptised 18 April 1580 – July 1627; also spelt ''Midleton'') was an English Jacobean playwright and poet. He, with John Fletcher and Ben Jonson, was among the most successful and prolific of playwrights at work in the Jac ...

's The Changeling. Brustein also conceived and adapted the musical '' Shlemiel the First'', based on the stories of

Isaac Bashevis Singer Isaac Bashevis Singer (; 1903 – July 24, 1991) was a Poland, Polish-born Jews, Jewish novelist, short-story writer, memoirist, essayist, and translator in the United States. Some of his works were adapted for the theater. He wrote and publish ...

and set to traditional

klezmer music Klezmer ( or ) is an instrumental musical tradition of the Ashkenazi Jews of Central and Eastern Europe. The essential elements of the tradition include dance tunes, ritual melodies, and virtuosic improvisations played for listening; these wou ...

, which was directed and choreographed by David Gordon. After the original presentation in 1994 at ART and in

Philadelphia Philadelphia ( ), colloquially referred to as Philly, is the List of municipalities in Pennsylvania, most populous city in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania and the List of United States cities by population, sixth-most populous city in the Unit ...

at the

American Music Theatre Festival The Prince Theater is a non-profit theatrical producing organization located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania and specializing in music theatre, including opera, music drama, musical comedy and experimental forms. Founded in 1984 as the American M ...

, who co-produced the show, ''Shlemiel the First'' was revived several times in Cambridge and subsequently played at the

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 ...

Serious Fun Festival, the

American Conservatory Theater The American Conservatory Theater (ACT) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school. History The American ...

in San Francisco, and the

Geffen Playhouse The Geffen Playhouse is a not-for-profit theater company founded in Los Angeles, California by Gilbert Cates in 1995. It produces plays in two theaters in Geffen Playhouse, which is owned by University of California Los Angeles. The Playhous ...

in Los Angeles, as well as touring theatres on the east coast of Florida and in

Stamford, Connecticut Stamford () is a city in Fairfield County, Connecticut, United States, outside of New York City. It is the sixth-most populous city in New England. Stamford is also the largest city in the Western Connecticut Planning Region, Connecticut, Weste ...

. The play has also been produced at

Theater J Theater J is a professional theater company located in Washington, DC, founded to present works that "celebrate the distinctive urban voice and social vision that are part of the Jewish cultural legacy". Organization Hailed by ''The New York ...

in Washington, D.C.. A remount of the original David Gordon production was presented by Peak Performances at

Montclair State University Montclair State University (MSU) is a public research university in Montclair, New Jersey, with parts of the campus extending into Clifton and into Little Falls. As of fall 2018, Montclair State was, by enrollment, the second largest public un ...

's Kasser Theatre in January 2010, and went on to a three-week run at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private university, private research university in New York City, New York, United States. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded in 1832 by Albert Gallatin as a Nondenominational ...

Skirball Center for the Performing Arts The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, generally known as NYU Skirball, is an 850-seat theater at 566 LaGuardia Place in Manhattan, New York, owned by New York University. It was named after philanthropist Jack H. Skirball. The ...

. Brustein's klezmer musical, with composer Hankus Netsky, ''The King of Second Avenue'', an adaptation of Israel Zangwill's ''The King of the Schnorrers'', was produced at the

New Repertory Theatre The New Repertory Theatre (New Rep) is a Boston-area regional theater In geography, regions, otherwise referred to as areas, zones, lands or territories, are portions of the Earth's surface that are broadly divided by physical characteristics ( ...

in 2015.

Original works

Brustein's full-length plays include ''Demons'', '' Nobody Dies on Friday'', ''The Face Lift'', ''Spring Forward, Fall Back'', and his Shakespeare Trilogy ''The English Channel'', ''Mortal Terror'', and "The Last Will." ''Demons'', which was broadcast on WGBH radio in 1993, had its stage world premiere as part of the American Repertory Theater New Stages Season. ''Nobody Dies on Friday'' was given its world premiere in the same series and was presented at the

Singapore Arts Festival Singapore International Festival of Arts (SIFA) is an annual arts festival held in Singapore. It is organised bArts House Limitedfor the National Arts Council Singapore, National Arts Council. The festival is usually held in mid-year for a stretch ...

and the Pushkin Theatre in Moscow. It was included in Marisa Smith's anthology ''New Playwrights: Best Plays of 1998''. ''Spring Forward, Fall Back'' was produced in 2006 at the Vineyard Playhouse on

Martha's Vineyard Martha's Vineyard, often simply called the Vineyard, is an island in the U.S. state of Massachusetts, lying just south of Cape Cod. It is known for being a popular, affluent summer colony, and includes the smaller peninsula Chappaquiddick Isla ...

and at Theater J 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. In the Fall of 2008, it played at the Abingdon Theatre in New York where it was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize. His short plays ''Poker Face'', ''Chekhov on Ice'', ''Divestiture'', ''AnchorBimbo'', ''Noises'', ''Terrorist Skit'', ''Airport Hell'', ''Beachman's Last Poetry Reading'', "Sex For a Change", and ''Kosher Kop'' were all presented by the Boston Playwrights' Theatre and form a play called "Seven/Elevens. Brustein was also the author of ''Doctor Hippocrates is Out: Please Leave a Message'' an anthology of theatrical and cinematic satire on medicine and physicians, commissioned by the Institute for Healthcare Improvement for its 2008 convention in Nashville. Brustein's musical satire, ''Exposed'', was performed in 2014 at the Martha's Vineyard Playhouse.

Awards and honors

Brustein was the recipient of many awards and honors, including: * c.1953:

to the

, 1953–1955 * 1961:

John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation The John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation is a private foundation formed in 1925 by Olga and Simon Guggenheim in memory of their son, who died on April 26, 1922. The organization awards Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Gr ...

Fellowship A fellow is a title and form of address for distinguished, learned, or skilled individuals in academia, medicine, research, and industry. The exact meaning of the term differs in each field. In learned or professional societies, the term refers ...

* 1962, 1987: Twice winner of the George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism: in 1962 for his reviews in ''Commentary'', ''Partisan Review'', ''Harpers'' and ''New Republic''; and in 1987 for ''Who Needs Theatre: Dramatic Opinions''. Brustein is the only person to have received this award more than once. * 1964:

George Polk Award The George Polk Awards in Journalism are a series of American journalism awards presented annually by Long Island University in New York in the United States. A writer for Idea Lab, a group blog hosted on the website of PBS, described the awar ...

for Journalism (Criticism) * 1984: the 2nd Elliot Norton Award For Professional Excellence in Boston Theatre, known at the time as the Norton Prize, presented by the Boston Theater District Association, and now given by StageSource: the Greater Boston Theatre Alliance * 1985: New England Theatre Conference's Major Award for outstanding creative achievement in the American theatre * 1995:

Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts * 1999: Elected to the American Academy of Arts and Letters * 2000: Association for Theatre in Higher Education Career Achievement Award for Professional Theatre * 2001: The Commonwealth Award for Organizational Leadership (Massachusetts' highest honor) * 2002: Inducted into the

American Theatre Hall of Fame American(s) may refer to: * American, something of, from, or related to the United States of America, commonly known as the "United States" or "America" ** Americans, citizens and nationals of the United States of America ** American ancestry, p ...

* 2003:

United States Institute for Theatre Technology The United States Institute for Theatre Technology (USITT) is a membership organization which aims to advance the skills and knowledge of theatre, entertainment and performing arts professionals involved in the areas of design, production and tec ...

Lifetime Achievement Award * 2003: National Corporate Theatre Fund chairman's Award for Achievement in Theatre * 2005:

Gann Academy Gann Academy (Hebrew: תיכון חדש) is a coeducational Jewish high school located in Waltham, Massachusetts, United States. It was founded in 1997 and is a member of the National Association of Independent Schools and is accredited by the N ...

Award for Excellence in the Performing Arts * 2008: Eugene O'Neill Foundation's Tao House Award for serving the American theatre with distinction * 2010:

* 2011: Players Club Hall of Fame In addition, Brustein received the Pirandello Medal, and a medal from the Egyptian government for contributions to world theatre. His papers are housed at the Howard Gotlieb Archival Research Center at

Boston University Boston University (BU) is a Private university, private research university in Boston, Massachusetts, United States. BU was founded in 1839 by a group of Boston Methodism, Methodists with its original campus in Newbury (town), Vermont, Newbur ...

.Howard Gottlieb Archival Research Center Acquires the Person Archive of Robert Brustein
/ref>

References

Bibliography

*Plotkins, Marilyn J. ''The American Repertory Theatre Reference Book: The Brustein Years'', 2005.

External links

Robert Brustein on ''Huffington Post''Robert Brustein on Google BooksThe American Repertory Theater's website
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Brustein, Robert 1927 births 2023 deaths 20th-century American Jews 20th-century American dramatists and playwrights 20th-century American male writers 20th-century American non-fiction writers 21st-century American Jews 21st-century American male writers Alumni of the University of Nottingham American male non-fiction writers American theater critics American theatre directors American theatre managers and producers Amherst College alumni Columbia University alumni David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University alumni Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Harvard University faculty Jewish American non-fiction writers Members of the American Academy of Arts and Letters The High School of Music & Art alumni United States National Medal of Arts recipients George Polk Award recipients People from the Upper West Side Writers from Manhattan The New Republic people