EPISODE · Dec 21, 2009 · 1H 12M
Bernard Gersten (#248) - December, 2009
from ATW - Downstage Center · host American Theatre Wing
Bernard Gersten, whose tenure as Executive Producer of Lincoln Center Theater has scored them numerous Tony Awards, including the recent revival of South Pacific, Coast of Utopia and Contact, takes listeners on a highly condensed tour of his 60-year career in the theatre, including his joining Maurice Evans' US Army Special Services Unit while stationed on Hawaii during World War II; his subsequent New York debut as assistant stage manager, ensemble member and understudy in Evans' "G.I." Hamlet; his years as a stage manager, including the threat to his job at the American Shakespeare Festival in Connecticut after he was called before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee; how he met and came to work with Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, a tenure that included the construction of the "temporary" Delacorte Theatre, the opening of The Public Theater on Astor Place with the original Hair, and the phenomenal success of A Chorus Line; his work with Frances Ford Coppola on four films, including the oft-discussed but little seen One From the Heart; how he signed on at the inception of Lincoln Center Theater in 1985 when the Vivian Beaumont was thought to be a highly undesirable venue; and his role in the selection of Andre Bishop as LCT's artistic director upon the departure of Gregory Mosher in 1991.
What this episode covers
Bernard Gersten, whose tenure as Executive Producer of Lincoln Center Theater has scored them numerous Tony Awards, including the recent revival of South Pacific, Coast of Utopia and Contact, takes listeners on a highly condensed tour of his 60-year career in the theatre, including his joining Maurice Evans' US Army Special Services Unit while stationed on Hawaii during World War II; his subsequent New York debut as assistant stage manager, ensemble member and understudy in Evans' "G.I." Hamlet; his years as a stage manager, including the threat to his job at the American Shakespeare Festival in Connecticut after he was called before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee; how he met and came to work with Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, a tenure that included the construction of the "temporary" Delacorte Theatre, the opening of The Public Theater on Astor Place with the original Hair, and the phenomenal success of A Chorus Line; his work with Frances Ford Coppola on four films, including the oft-discussed but little seen One From the Heart; how he signed on at the inception of Lincoln Center Theater in 1985 when the Vivian Beaumont was thought to be a highly undesirable venue; and his role in the selection of Andre Bishop as LCT's artistic director upon the departure of Gregory Mosher in 1991.
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Bernard Gersten (#248) - December, 2009
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