David Mayer (November 23, 1928 – August 24, 2023) was an American-British theatre historian. He was Emeritus Professor of Drama and Honorary Research Professor at the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

. Mayer was also known for accidentally being placed on a U.S. terrorism blacklist due to a case of mistaken identity. In 2016, Mayer discovered that he had been placed on a U.S. security list because a Chechen militant called Akhmed Chatayev, who was wanted by US authorities, had used the alias 'David Mayer'. The case of mistaken identity meant Mayer could not travel to the US or receive mail from the US. As of November 2020, Mayer was still encountering bureaucratic problems as a result of his name being on a watchlist. One result of this appeared in December of 2024 even after his death. As a theatre historian, his work centres on the "drama of the long 19th century and with the late-Victorian stage’s many links with early ilentfilm." In 2012, he received the American Society for Theatre Research (ASTR) Distinguished Scholar Award. In 2017, Mayer supported a campaign to save Harker's Studio, one of the last theatre scenery workshops in the UK. His publications include ''Stagestruck Filmmaker'', about the film director D.W. Griffith and ''Harlequin in His Element: The English Pantomime, 1806–1836''. Mayer was a U.S. Army veteran and the father of the UK's

Women's Equality Party The Women's Equality Party (WEP) was a feminist political party set up in the United Kingdom in 2015. The idea was conceived by Catherine Mayer and Sandi Toksvig at the Women of the World Festival, when they concluded that there was a need f ...

founder Catherine Mayer, and writer and activist

Lise Mayer Lise Mayer (born 29 November 1959) is an American television and film writer. She was creator and co-writer, alongside Rik Mayall and Ben Elton, of the BBC comedy series '' The Young Ones''. __NOTOC__ Background and work Mayer was born in Chica ...

, who co-created the sitcom The Young Ones. Mayer died in August 2023, at the age of 94.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Mayer, David 1928 births 2023 deaths Writers from Chicago 21st-century American male writers 21st-century American historians 20th-century American historians Academics of the University of Manchester 20th-century American male writers American expatriate academics American expatriates in the United Kingdom Historians of theatre