Wynn Handman (May 19, 1922 – April 11, 2020) was the Artistic Director of The American Place Theatre, which he co-founded with Sidney Lanier and

Michael Tolan Michael Tolan (born Seymour Tuchow, November 27, 1925 – January 31, 2011) was an American actor. Early life and education The son of Morris Tuchow, Tolan was born in Detroit, Michigan. He graduated from Central High School and Wayne State Un ...

in 1963. His role in the theatre was to seek out, encourage, train, and present new and exciting writing and acting talent and to develop and produce new plays by living American writers. In addition, he initiated several Arts Education Programs, such as ''Literature to Life''. His life and the history of The American Place Theatre are the subjects of the 2019 documentary '' It Takes a Lunatic.'' Handman died during the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

due to complications brought on by

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by a virus, the severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The first known case was identified in Wuhan, China, in December 2019. The disease quick ...

Early life

Handman grew up in the Inwood neighborhood in

Upper Manhattan Upper Manhattan is the most northern region of the New York City borough of Manhattan. Its southern boundary has been variously defined, but some of the most common usages are 96th Street, the northern boundary of Central Park (110th Street), ...

. Handman studied acting at The Neighborhood Playhouse School of the Theater in New York City. In 1949 he created the role of Sentry Hallam in the world premiere of

Louis O. Coxe Louis Osborne Coxe (April 15, 1918 – May 25, 1993) was an American poet, playwright, essayist, and professor who was recognized by the Academy of American Poets for his "long, powerful, quiet accomplishment, largely unrecognized, in lyric ...

and Robert H. Chapman's '' Uniform of Flesh''; which later was retitled ''Billy Budd'' for its critically successful run on Broadway in 1951.

Directing career

Plays he has directed at The American Place Theatre include: ''Manchild in the Promised Land'', which he adapted from the novel by Claude Brown; ''I Stand Before You Naked'' by

Joyce Carol Oates Joyce Carol Oates (born June 16, 1938) is an American writer. Oates published her first book in 1963, and has since published 58 novels, a number of plays and novellas, and many volumes of short stories, poetry, and non-fiction. Her novels '' Bla ...

; ''Words, No Music'' by

Calvin Trillin Calvin Marshall Trillin (born 5 December 1935) is an American journalist, humorist, food writer, poet, memoirist and novelist. He is a winner of the Thurber Prize for American Humor (2012) and an elected member of the American Academy of Arts ...

; ''Drinking in America'' by

Eric Bogosian Eric Bogosian ( hy, Էրիկ Բոգոսյան; ; born April 24, 1953) is an American actor, playwright, monologuist, novelist, and historian. Descended from Armenian American immigrants, he grew up in Watertown and Woburn, Massachusetts, and a ...

; ''A Girl’s Guide to Chaos'' by Cynthia Heimel; ''Free Speech in America'', and ''Bibliomania'' by Roger Rosenblatt, with Ron Silver; ''Coming Through'' also adapted by Handman; ''Spokesman'' written and performed by John Hockenberry; ''Fly'' by Joseph Edward; and ''Dreaming in Cuban and Other Works: Rhythm, Rum, Café con Leche and Nuestros Abuelos'' by Cristina García and Michael Garcés. Also, he has adapted and directed many of the American Humorists’ Series productions.

Teaching career

A teacher for over 50 years, in his professional acting classes, Handman trained outstanding actors including

Michael Douglas Michael Kirk Douglas (born September 25, 1944) is an American actor and film producer. He has received numerous accolades, including two Academy Awards, five Golden Globe Awards, a Primetime Emmy Award, the Cecil B. DeMille Award, and the AF ...

, and

Christopher George Christopher John George ( Greek: Χριστόφορος Γεωργίου; February 25, 1931 – November 28, 1983) was an American television and film actor who starred in the 1960s television series '' The Rat Patrol''. He was nominated for a G ...

. In December 2013, a book by Jeremy Gerard was published entitled ''Wynn Place Show: A Biased History of the Rollicking Life & Extreme Times of Wynn Handman and the American Place Theatre''. A party to honor the book and Handman, at The Players Club in Manhattan, was featured in 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 ...

, and included grateful Handman students such as Richard Gere, Frank Langella and John Leguizamo.

Personal life

Handman was born in New York City, New York, the son of Anna (Kemler), a saleswoman at Saks Fifth Avenue, and Nathan Handman, who ran a printing business. His parents were Jewish emigrants, his father from Minsk, Belarus, and his mother from

Płońsk Płońsk (; yi, פּלאָנסק, Plonsk) is a town in central Poland with 22,500 inhabitants (2010). Situated at the Płonka river in the historic region of Mazovia, it is the seat of Płońsk County in the Masovian Voivodeship. History Ac ...

, Poland. Handman was married to political consultant and arts advocate Bobbie Handman, who died November 13, 2013. Their daughter, Laura Handman, is the wife of

Harold M. Ickes Harold McEwen Ickes (; born September 4, 1939) is the former White House Deputy Chief of Staff for President Bill Clinton. He was a leading figure in the Clinton administration's healthcare reform initiative. Ickes is the son of Harold L. Icke ...

. Their other daughter, Liza Handman, is the Vice President of Creative at Drury Design Dynamics, a leader in the meetings and events industry. Handman died on April 11, 2020 in New York City at the age of 97 from

Awards

*1989 Townsend Harris Medal of the

City College of New York The City College of the City University of New York (also known as the City College of New York, or simply City College or CCNY) is a public university within the City University of New York (CUNY) system in New York City. Founded in 1847, Cit ...

*1993

Lucille Lortel Award The Lucille Lortel Awards recognize excellence in New York Off-Broadway theatre. The Awards are named for Lucille Lortel, an actress and theater producer, and have been awarded since 1986. They are produced by the League of Off-Broadway Theatres ...

for Lifetime Achievement * 1994 Rosetta LeNoire Award from

Actors' Equity Association The Actors' Equity Association (AEA), commonly referred to as Actors' Equity or simply Equity, is an American labor union representing those who work in live theatrical performance. Performers appearing in live stage productions without a boo ...

*1996

Carnegie Mellon Carnegie may refer to: People *Carnegie (surname), including a list of people with the name *Clan Carnegie, a lowland Scottish clan Institutions Named for Andrew Carnegie * Carnegie Building (Troy, New York), on the campus of Rensselaer Polyte ...

Drama Commitment to Playwriting Award *1998 Sanford Meisner Service Award from The Working Theater *1999

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 ...

for Sustained AchievementObieAwrds.com
Retrieved March 6, 2021

References

External links

American Place TheatreThe Wynn Handman Studio
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Handman, Wynn 2020 deaths 1922 births American theatre directors People from Inwood, Manhattan Deaths from the COVID-19 pandemic in New York (state)