Charles R. Lyons
Encyclopedia
Charles R. Lyons was a professor of Drama and Comparative Literature at Stanford University
and co-owner of the art gallery Lyons Ltd. He received his A.B. ('55), M.A. ('56), and PhD ('64) from Stanford as well. As an undergraduate at Stanford he focused on Shakespeare with the legendary professor Margery Bailey, the namesake of his endowed chair. He is best known as a theorist and teacher of theatre. His interest in performance began in the 1950s as a professional actor in Los Angeles where he routinely performed at the Pasadena Playhouse
. After finishing his masters, Lyons spent four years as a lieutenant in U.S. Navy, where he served in the Far East and later in Washington, D.C as a liaison to Jacques Cousteau.
In the early 1960s Lyons took a teaching position at Principia College
in Illinois. In 1968 he moved on to the University of California, Berkeley
becoming a Professor of Dramatic Art and later the Associate Dean of Letters and Sciences. He returned to Stanford as chair of the theatre department in 1973 and installed an undergraduate and doctoral program that established a new approach for the training of theatre practitioners and theatre scholars.
Lyons scholarly writings included Shakespeare
, Chekov, Ibsen
, Brecht, Beckett
, and Shepard
. His former students currently occupy key positions in theatre and performance departments across the U.S. and in Europe, as well in repertory theaters, professional theatre companies, and the film industry. Throughout his career, Lyons continued to work at the practice of theatre, directing productions of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera
, Samuel Beckett’s Endgame
, William Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona and Hamlet
with Andre Braugher
in the title role.
Concerned with diversity issues within the arts, Lyons put forward a new Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford, financed by the James Irvine Foundation
.
Stanford University
The Leland Stanford Junior University, commonly referred to as Stanford University or Stanford, is a private research university on an campus located near Palo Alto, California. It is situated in the northwestern Santa Clara Valley on the San Francisco Peninsula, approximately northwest of San...
and co-owner of the art gallery Lyons Ltd. He received his A.B. ('55), M.A. ('56), and PhD ('64) from Stanford as well. As an undergraduate at Stanford he focused on Shakespeare with the legendary professor Margery Bailey, the namesake of his endowed chair. He is best known as a theorist and teacher of theatre. His interest in performance began in the 1950s as a professional actor in Los Angeles where he routinely performed at the Pasadena Playhouse
Pasadena Playhouse
The Pasadena Playhouse is a historic performing arts venue located 39 S El Molino Avenue in Pasadena, California. The 686-seat auditorium produces a variety of cultural and artistic events, professional shows, and community engagements each year.-History:...
. After finishing his masters, Lyons spent four years as a lieutenant in U.S. Navy, where he served in the Far East and later in Washington, D.C as a liaison to Jacques Cousteau.
In the early 1960s Lyons took a teaching position at Principia College
Principia College
Principia College is a four-year private co-educational liberal arts college in Elsah, Illinois. The campus sits on bluffs overlooking the Mississippi River between Alton and Grafton, located about thirty miles north of St. Louis. In 1934, Principia College graduated its first class as a full...
in Illinois. In 1968 he moved on to the University of California, Berkeley
University of California, Berkeley
The University of California, Berkeley , is a teaching and research university established in 1868 and located in Berkeley, California, USA...
becoming a Professor of Dramatic Art and later the Associate Dean of Letters and Sciences. He returned to Stanford as chair of the theatre department in 1973 and installed an undergraduate and doctoral program that established a new approach for the training of theatre practitioners and theatre scholars.
Lyons scholarly writings included Shakespeare
William Shakespeare
William Shakespeare was an English poet and playwright, widely regarded as the greatest writer in the English language and the world's pre-eminent dramatist. He is often called England's national poet and the "Bard of Avon"...
, Chekov, Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen
Henrik Ibsen was a major 19th-century Norwegian playwright, theatre director, and poet. He is often referred to as "the father of prose drama" and is one of the founders of Modernism in the theatre...
, Brecht, Beckett
Samuel Beckett
Samuel Barclay Beckett was an Irish avant-garde novelist, playwright, theatre director, and poet. He wrote both in English and French. His work offers a bleak, tragicomic outlook on human nature, often coupled with black comedy and gallows humour.Beckett is widely regarded as among the most...
, and Shepard
Sam Shepard
Sam Shepard is an American playwright, actor, and television and film director. He is the author of several books of short stories, essays, and memoirs, and received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1979 for his play Buried Child...
. His former students currently occupy key positions in theatre and performance departments across the U.S. and in Europe, as well in repertory theaters, professional theatre companies, and the film industry. Throughout his career, Lyons continued to work at the practice of theatre, directing productions of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera
The Beggar's Opera
The Beggar's Opera is a ballad opera in three acts written in 1728 by John Gay with music arranged by Johann Christoph Pepusch. It is one of the watershed plays in Augustan drama and is the only example of the once thriving genre of satirical ballad opera to remain popular today...
, Samuel Beckett’s Endgame
Endgame (play)
Endgame, by Samuel Beckett, is a one-act play with four characters, written in a style associated with the Theatre of the Absurd. It was originally written in French ; as was his custom, Beckett himself translated it into English. The play was first performed in a French-language production at the...
, William Shakespeare's Two Gentlemen of Verona and Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
with Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher
Andre Braugher is an American actor. He is perhaps best known for his roles as Thomas Searles in the film Glory, as the fiery detective Frank Pembleton on Homicide: Life on the Street from 1993 to 1998 and again in the 2000 made-for-TV film Homicide: Life on the Street, and as Owen Thoreau Jr...
in the title role.
Concerned with diversity issues within the arts, Lyons put forward a new Institute for Diversity in the Arts at Stanford, financed by the James Irvine Foundation
James Irvine Foundation
The James Irvine Foundation is a philanthropic nonprofit organization established to benefit the people of California. It seeks to promote social equity and enrich the cultural and civic life of America’s most populous state through its grants in three areas: the arts, youth and education, and...
.
Awards
- Fullbright scholar
- National Endowment for the HumanitiesNational Endowment for the HumanitiesThe National Endowment for the Humanities is an independent federal agency of the United States established by the National Foundation on the Arts and the Humanities Act of 1965 dedicated to supporting research, education, preservation, and public programs in the humanities. The NEH is located at...
fellowship - MacArthur Fellows ProgramMacArthur Fellows ProgramThe MacArthur Fellows Program or MacArthur Fellowship is an award given by the John D. and Catherine T...
- Guggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim FellowshipGuggenheim Fellowships are American grants that have been awarded annually since 1925 by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation to those "who have demonstrated exceptional capacity for productive scholarship or exceptional creative ability in the arts." Each year, the foundation makes...
Works
- Bertolt Brecht: the dispair and the polemic, Southern Illinois University Press, 1968
- Shakespeare and the ambiguity of love's triumph, Mouton, 1971
- Samuel Beckett, Macmillan, 1983 ISBN 9780333294659
- Henrik Ibsen: the divided consciousness, Southern Illinois University Press, 1972, ISBN, 9780809305506
- Critical essays on Henrik Ibsen, G.K. Hall, 1987, ISBN 9780816188352
- Hedda Gabler: gender, role, and world, Twayne Publishers, 1990, ISBN 9780805794175