Esser Leopold Breuer (February 6, 1937 – January 3, 2021) was an American playwright, theater director, academic, educator, filmmaker, poet, and lyricist.
Breuer taught and directed on six continents.
Career
Breuer was a founding co-artistic director of
Mabou Mines Theater Company in
New York City
New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...
, which Breuer began in 1970 with colleagues
Philip Glass
Philip Glass (born January 31, 1937) is an American composer and pianist. He is widely regarded as one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century. Glass's work has been associated with minimal music, minimalism, being built up fr ...
,
Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech (January 8, 1939 – September 30, 2013) was an American avant-garde stage actress.
University of Notre Dame; a ...
,
JoAnne Akalaitis
JoAnne Akalaitis (born June 29, 1937, in Cicero, Illinois) is an avant-garde Lithuanian-American theatre director and writer. She won five Obie Awards for direction (and sustained achievement) and was founder in 1970 of the critically acclaimed M ...
,
David Warrilow
David Warrilow (28 December 1934 – 17 August 1995) was an English actor best known as one of the "finest interpreters of Samuel Beckett’s work".Cited in Ackerley, C.J., and Gontarski, Stan, ''The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett'', New Yor ...
, and
Frederick Neumann Frederick may refer to:
People
* Frederick (given name), the name
Nobility
Anhalt-Harzgerode
*Frederick, Prince of Anhalt-Harzgerode (1613–1670)
Austria
* Frederick I, Duke of Austria (Babenberg), Duke of Austria from 1195 to 1198
* Frederi ...
. Since the birth of the company, Breuer worked with Mabou Mines.
In 2013, Breuer directed the ''La Divina Caricatura: Part I The Shaggy Dog'' which was co-produced by Mabou Mines.
In 2005, Breuer's previous Mabou Mines production ''Red Beads,'' was adapted by Breuer from a Russian folk story, created in collaboration with puppeteer
Basil Twist
Basil Twist is a New York City-based puppeteer who is known for his underwater puppet show, "''Symphonie Fantastique''". He was named a MacArthur Fellowship recipient on September 29, 2015.
Life and work
Originally from San Francisco, Basil Twis ...
and composer
Ushio Torikai
Ushio Torikai ( 鳥 養 潮; surname Torikai; born July 11, 1952 in Matsumoto, Nagano Prefecture, Japan) is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music. She is known for her highly individual musical voice, developed over many years of rese ...
. Of the September 2005 New York City premiere, the ''
New York Times
''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid d ...
'' critic wrote "...theater as sorcery; it is a crossroads where artistic traditions meet to invent a marvelous common language. It is a fairy tale, a puppet play and a chamber opera… amazing work."
''Mabou Mines Dollhouse'', a deconstruction of the
Ibsen
Henrik Johan Ibsen (; ; 20 March 1828 – 23 May 1906) was a Norwegian playwright and theatre director. As one of the founders of modernism in theatre, Ibsen is often referred to as "the father of realism" and one of the most influential playw ...
classic, won 2004
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
s for Best Director and Best Performance. The production toured nationally and internationally.
Breuer directed high definition video adaptation of stage production for Arte television France, which was aired throughout Europe.
Much of Breuer's work with Mabou Mines premiered at
The Public Theater
The Public Theater is a New York City arts organization founded as the Shakespeare Workshop in 1954 by Joseph Papp, with the intention of showcasing the works of up-and-coming playwrights and performers.Epstein, Helen. ''Joe Papp: An American Li ...
(NYC) under the patronage of the late
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a y ...
, and at the
La Mama Experimental Theater Club
La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club (La MaMa E.T.C.) is an Off-Off-Broadway theatre founded in 1961 by Ellen Stewart, African-American theatre director, producer, and fashion designer. Located in Manhattan's East Village, the theatre began in the ...
under the patronage of
Ellen Stewart
Ellen Stewart (November 7, 1919 – January 13, 2011) was an American theatre director and producer and the founder of La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club. During the 1950s she worked as a fashion designer for Saks Fifth Avenue, Bergdorf Goodm ...
. These include his Obie-winning adaptation of three works by
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett (; 13 April 1906 – 22 December 1989) was an Irish novelist, dramatist, short story writer, theatre director, poet, and literary translator. His literary and theatrical work features bleak, impersonal and tragicomic expe ...
: ''Play'', ''Come and Go'' and ''The Lost Ones''.
Breuer authored/directed
Mabou Mines
Mabou Mines is an experimental theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City.
Founding and history
Mabou Mines was founded by David Warrilow, Lee Breuer, Ruth Maleczech, JoAnne Akalaitis, and Philip Glass, at the house of Akalaitis an ...
' trilogy, ''Animations'', including ''The B Beaver'', ''The Red Horse'' and ''The Shaggy Dog Animation'', which was awarded the
Obie
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
for Best Play in 1978.
In 1980 Breuer received two Obies for writing and direction of his play, ''A Prelude to a Death in Venice.'' He also wrote and directed ''An Epidog,'' the winner of the President's Commission Kennedy Center-American Express Award for Best New Work''.
''
In 1976 he appeared in
Rosa von Praunheim
Holger Bernhard Bruno Mischwitzky (born Holger Radtke; 25 November 1942), known professionally as Rosa von Praunheim, is a German film director, author, painter and one of the most famous gay rights activists in the German-speaking world. In ov ...
's
New York
New York most commonly refers to:
* New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York
* New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States
New York may also refer to:
Film and television
* '' ...
film ''
Underground and Emigrants
Underground most commonly refers to:
* Subterranea (geography), the regions beneath the surface of the Earth
Underground may also refer to:
Places
* The Underground (Boston), a music club in the Allston neighborhood of Boston
* The Underground ...
''.
The Gospel at Colonus
Breuer's best-known work is ''
The Gospel at Colonus
''The Gospel at Colonus'' is an African-American musical version of Sophocles's tragedy, ''Oedipus at Colonus. '' The show was created in 1983 by the experimental-theatre director Lee Breuer, one of the founders of the seminal American avant-garde ...
'', a Pentecostal Gospel rendering of Sophocles' ''
Oedipus at Colonus
''Oedipus at Colonus'' (also ''Oedipus Coloneus''; grc, Οἰδίπους ἐπὶ Κολωνῷ, ''Oidipous epi Kolōnōi'') is the last of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles. It was written shortly before Sophocles's d ...
'', created with composer
Bob Telson
Robert Eria Telson (born May 14, 1949) is an American composer, songwriter, and pianist best known for his work in musical theater and film, for which he has received Tony, Pulitzer, and Academy Award nominations.
Biography
Robert Eria Telson wa ...
, starring
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman (born June 1, 1937) is an American actor, director, and narrator. He is known for his distinctive deep voice and various roles in a wide variety of film genres. Throughout his career spanning over five decades, he has received ...
and
Clarence Fountain
The Blind Boys of Alabama, also billed as The Five Blind Boys of Alabama, and Clarence Fountain and the Blind Boys of Alabama, is an American gospel group. The group was founded in 1939 in Talladega, Alabama, and has featured a changing roster ...
. It premiered at the
Brooklyn Academy of Music
The Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM) is a performing arts venue in Brooklyn, New York City, known as a center for progressive and avant-garde performance. It presented its first performance in 1861 and began operations in its present location in ...
's "Next Wave Festival". It was later performed on Broadway at the Lunt-Fontanne Theater in 1988 for which he was nominated for a Tony Award. The production received numerous awards, including a Pulitzer Prize nomination (1988), an
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
for Best Musical (1984), and an
Emmy
The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the calendar year, each with the ...
.
''The Gospel at Colonus'' would go on to performances worldwide (Paris, Spoleto, Edinburgh, Moscow, Barcelona, London, Avignon). It was recreated for the 70th Anniversary of New York's legendary Apollo Theater for two weeks in the fall of 2004 starring
Charles S. Dutton
Charles Stanley Dutton (born January 30, 1951) is an American actor and director. He is best known for his roles in the television series ''Roc (TV series), Roc'' (1991–1994) and the television film ''The Piano Lesson (film), The Piano Lesson'' ...
and
Jevetta Steele
Jevetta Steele (born November 11, 1963) is an American R&B and gospel music singer.
Early years
Born and raised in Gary, Indiana, Steele eventually migrated to Minneapolis, Minnesota to become a criminal lawyer. Steele later embarked upon a sol ...
.
Productions
In 1981, with
Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech (January 8, 1939 – September 30, 2013) was an American avant-garde stage actress.
University of Notre Dame; a ...
, Lee Breuer directed ''
The Tempest'' for
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp (born Joseph Papirofsky; June 22, 1921 – October 31, 1991) was an American theatrical producer and director. He established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in Lower Manhattan. There Papp created a y ...
's
Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park is a term for outdoor festivals featuring productions of William Shakespeare's plays. The term originated with the New York Shakespeare Festival in New York City's Central Park, originally created by Joseph Papp. This conc ...
, starring
Raul Julia
Raúl Rafael Carlos Juliá y Arcelay (March 9, 1940 – October 24, 1994) was a Puerto Rican actor. Born in San Juan, Puerto Rico, he took an interest in acting while still in school and pursued the career upon completion of his studies. After ...
. Breuer and Maleczech's daughter Clove Galilee played "Young Miranda" in the production.
Breuer's music-theater collaborations with Bob Telson include ''Sister Suzie Cinema'' (featuring
14 Karat Soul
14 Karat Soul is an a cappella group from East Orange, New Jersey. They began their active career in the 1980s. 14 Karat Soul were originally a strictly doo-wop group, but later branched out into other genres. They were featured in the 1980 Mabou M ...
), which premiered at The Public Theater and was televised on the PBS series, "Alive from Off Center" and “The Warrior Ant” which premiered at BAM in 1988.
Breuer has directed 13 Obie Award-winning productions over a period of more than 40 years including:
David Warrilow
David Warrilow (28 December 1934 – 17 August 1995) was an English actor best known as one of the "finest interpreters of Samuel Beckett’s work".Cited in Ackerley, C.J., and Gontarski, Stan, ''The Grove Companion to Samuel Beckett'', New Yor ...
in ''The Lost Ones'' (1974); Bill Raymond in ''A Prelude to Death in Venice'' (1979); Ruth Maleczech in ''Hajj'' (1986);
Yoshida Tamamatsu in ''The Warrior Ant'' (1990); Ruth Maleczech, Isabel Monk, Karen Kandel and Greg Mehrten in ''Mabou Mines Lear'' (1991); Karen Kandel in ''Peter and Wendy'' (1997); and Maude Mitchell in ''Mabou Mines Dollhouse'' (2004). His involvement outside of the U.S. includes directing ''Yi Sang Counts to Thirteen'' by Sung Rno, which had its debut in
South Korea
South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...
at the
Seoul
Seoul (; ; ), officially known as the Seoul Special City, is the capital and largest metropolis of South Korea.Before 1972, Seoul was the ''de jure'' capital of the Democratic People's Republic of Korea (North Korea) as stated iArticle 103 ...
Theater Festival 2000.
Lee taught an acting workshop in
New Delhi
New Delhi (, , ''Naī Dillī'') is the capital of India and a part of the National Capital Territory of Delhi (NCT). New Delhi is the seat of all three branches of the government of India, hosting the Rashtrapati Bhavan, Parliament House ...
, India during the summer of 2011 where he wrote and directed a workshop production of ''La Divina Caricatura''. Divina is a Bunraku pop-opera that uses puppetry and draws from the traditional format of Indian epics such as the
Mahabharata
The ''Mahābhārata'' ( ; sa, महाभारतम्, ', ) is one of the two major Sanskrit epics of ancient India in Hinduism, the other being the ''Rāmāyaṇa''. It narrates the struggle between two groups of cousins in the Kuruk ...
.
Personal life
Breuer was born in Philadelphia.
He studied English at the
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA) is a public land-grant research university in Los Angeles, California. UCLA's academic roots were established in 1881 as a teachers college then known as the southern branch of the California St ...
.
[ Breuer married Maleczech in 1978. They had two children (Clove Galilee and Lute Breuer) and remained legally married until her death in 2013, but spent much of the latter period separated.][ He also had three children (Alexander Tiappa Klimovitsky, Mojo Lorwin, and Wah Mohn) by other relationships.][ Ms. Mitchell and Mr. Breuer met in 1999 at Sundance Theater Lab and became partners; they married in 2015. ][ In addition to Mitchell, he was survived by his daughter, Clove Galilee; his sons, Lute Ramblin Breuer, Alexander Tiappa Klimovitsky, Mojo Lorwin and Wah Mohn; daughters-in-law Jenny Rogers and Martha Elliot and three grandchildren. ][
Breuer’s children all grew up to be artists. Like their mothers — Maleczech, Klimovitskaya, Lorwin and Leslie Mohn (died 2007) — all had collaborated with him.]
Breuer died at his home in Brooklyn Heights
Brooklyn Heights is a residential neighborhood within the New York City borough of Brooklyn. The neighborhood is bounded by Old Fulton Street near the Brooklyn Bridge on the north, Cadman Plaza West on the east, Atlantic Avenue on the south, an ...
on January 3, 2021, at age 83. He had advanced kidney disease and metastatic lung cancer.[
]
Selected works
Plays
Publications
Awards, et al
2011 Named USA Ford Fellow in Theater Arts by United States Artists
2011 Elliot Norton award for "Best Touring Production" Mabou Mines DollHouse
2008 Honored by the Cairo International Experimental Theatre Festival
2008 XI Festival Iberoamericana de Teatro de Bogota 2007
2008 Herald Archangel Award, Edinburgh Festival
2007 Edwin Booth Award presented to the Artistic Directors of Mabou Mines by the Doctoral Theatre Students Association at the Graduate Center, CUNY.
2006 Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters, Ministry of Culture of France
2004 OBIE Award for 'Direction' for MABOU MINES DOLLHOUSE
1997 OBIE Award for 'Best Production' to PETER AND WENDY
1994 Fund for New American Plays Award, Best American Play, for THE EPIDOG (Breuer)
1986 OBIE Award for 'Sustained Achievement' to Mabou Mines[
1985 National Institute for Music Theater Award 'Outstanding Achievement' to GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1985 Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle Award for Best Concept to GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1985 Los Angeles Dramalogue Award for Best Direction and Text to GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1985 National Black Programming Award for Best Production Communicating Excellence to Black Audiences to GOSPEL AT COLONUS 1985 National Institute of Music Theater's Award for the Advancement of Music Theater
1984 OBIE Award for 'Best Musical' to GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1984 National Gospel Association Award 'Outstanding Production' to GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1984 Brandeis University Creative Arts Awards Citation in Theatre Arts to Mabou Mines for 'extraordinary artistic achievement,' re: script for HAJJ (Breuer)
1983 National ASCAP Popular Song Award for GOSPEL AT COLONUS lyrics
1983 United Gospel Association Award for Best Production to GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1983 American Theater Wing Joseph Maharam Award 'Consistently Excellent Collaborative Design'
1981 Villager Downtown Theatre Award to Mabou Mines for Outstanding Season
1980 OBIE Award to Lee Breuer for his script and direction of A PRELUDE TO DEATH IN VENICE.
1980 San Francisco Critics' Circle Award: Best Touring Production to A PRELUDE TO DEATH IN VENICE
1980 Villager Downtown Theatre Award for 'Best Musical' to SISTER SUZIE CINEMA
1979 Los Angeles Dramalogue Critics' Award to Lee Breuer (Direction) for THE LOST ONES
1978 OBIE Award for Best Play to Lee Breuer for THE SHAGGY DOG ANIMATION
1978 Villager Downtown Theatre Award to THE SHAGGY DOG ANIMATION
1978 Soho News Award for Best Ensemble to THE SHAGGY DOG ANIMATION
1974 OBIE Award for 'General Excellence' to Mabou Mines
1958-9 UCLA 'Best Play' Award to A PLAY and THE LINE
1958 Samuel French Award to A PLAY
]
Nominations
1988 Tony Nomination for Best Book - GOSPEL AT COLONUS (officially declined)
1988 Pulitzer Prize Nomination for Best Play - GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1987 NAACP Image Award Nomination - GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1986 Grammy Award Nomination for Best Theatrical Album - GOSPEL AT COLONUS
1986 Emmy Award Nomination for Best Direction (with Tod Browning) - GOSPEL AT COLONUS
In 1998, Breuer, was awarded an honorary degree from California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) is a private art university in Santa Clarita, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the US created specifically for students of both ...
.
Fellowships
2011 USA Ford Fellow in Theater Arts by United States Artists
2006 Bunting Fellowship - Radcliffe College, Cambridge, MA
2003 Fulbright Fellowship - Greece
2001 Asian Cultural Council - Thailand, Study 2000 Asian Cultural Council - Seoul, Korea, Workshop
1997-2001 John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellowship
1995 Asian Cultural Council - China, Teaching at Dramatic Institute in Beijing
1993 Japan-United States Friendship Commission - Japan, Research and Tour Planning
1992 Asian Cultural Council - China
1992 Arts International - China, Teaching and Travel
1992 Arts International - Bali, Rehearsal and Travel
1990-91 CIES Counsel for International Exchange of Scholars - North and South India
1985 Rockefeller Foundation Playwriting Fellowship
1984 McKnight Foundation Playwriting Fellowship
1983 Japan-United States Friendship Commission Exchange Fellowship
1982 National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship
1979 Rockefeller Foundation Playwriting Fellowship
1978 Creative Artists Public Service (CAPS) Fellowship
1978 National Endowment for the Arts Playwriting Fellowship
1977 Guggenheim Fellowship
Teaching
2011 Towsen University, Baltimore Maryland, Development workshop
2011 Duke University, North Carolina, Development workshop
2010 Master Classes, Moscow and St. Petersburg
2010 National Theatre of Scotland, Glasgow
2009 National Theatre of Scotland, Edinburgh
2009 Guest Faculty Shanghai University
2006 Guest Lecturer University of Thessaloniki
2004-06 Guest teaching, Yale University School of Drama, Brown University
1986-89 Co-Chair of Directing Department, Yale University School of Drama
1995-99 Professor of Theater, Stanford University 1995-99 Associate Professor
1994 UC Santa Cruz
1992-93 Associate Professor, Arizona State University West
1977-80 Associate Professor, Yale University School of Drama
1981 Harvard University Extension (Writers & Directors Seminar)
1981 Experimental Wing, New York University
References
External links
Lee Breuer's homepage
Mabou Mines Theater Company
{{DEFAULTSORT:Breuer, Lee
1937 births
2021 deaths
20th-century American dramatists and playwrights
20th-century American male writers
21st-century American dramatists and playwrights
21st-century American male writers
American theatre directors
Arizona State University faculty
Asian Cultural Council grantees
Deaths from lung cancer in New York (state)
Harvard University staff
MacArthur Fellows
Obie Award recipients
People from Brooklyn Heights
Postmodern theatre
Stanford University Department of Drama faculty
University of California, Los Angeles alumni
Writers from Brooklyn
Writers from Philadelphia
Yale University faculty