Lee Breuer
Encyclopedia
Lee Breuer is an American
academic, educator, film maker, poet, lyricist, writer and stage director.
in New York City
, which he began in 1970 with colleagues Philip Glass
, Ruth Maleczech
, JoAnne Akalaitis
, David Warrilow, and Frederick Neuman.
Breuer's most recent work with Mabou Mines was the puppet opera, Red Beads, created in collaboration with puppeteer Basil Twist
and composer Ushio Torikai
. Of the September 2005 New York City premiere, the New York Times said: "… 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."
His previous Mabou Mines production, Mabou Mines Dollhouse, a deconstruction of the Ibsen classic, won 2004 Obie Award
s for Best Director and Best Performance. The production continues its international touring with upcoming featured engagements including Paris, Hong Kong, and tours in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. Another production is being planned for production in Buenos Aires and touring in South America, and a high definition video production is being planned for international production and release.
Most of Breuer's previous work with Mabou Mines premiered at The Public Theater (NYC) under the patronage of the late Joseph Papp
, and at the La Mama Experimental Theater Club under the patronage of Ellen Stewart. These include his Obie-winning adaptation of three works by Samuel Beckett
:
Play, Come and Go and The Lost Ones.
He authored/directed Mabou Mines
' trilogy,
Animations, including The B Beaver, The Red Horse and The Shaggy Dog Animation, which was awarded the Obie for Beat 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.
, a Pentecostal Gospel rendering of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus
, created with composer Bob Telson and starring Morgan Freeman
and Clarence Fountain. It premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
'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), the Obie for Best Musical (1984), and an Emmy.
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
and Jevetta Steele.
for Joseph Papp
's Shakespeare in the Park
, starring Raul Julia
.
His music-theater collaborations as author and director with Bob Telson include Sister Suzie Cinema, which premiered at The Public Theater and was televised on the PBS series, "Alive from Off Center".
Lee Breuer has directed eleven Obie Award winning productions over a period of thirty years including David Warrilow 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 "Yi Sang Counts to Thirteen", which is now open-run in Korea(South)
He has won the Edinburgh Heralds Archangel Award and The Helen Hayes Award, in addition to numerous Obie
s.
He was a Japan-United States Friendship Commission exchange fellow and delivered the inaugural lectures for the Beckett Chair at Trinity College, Dublin
, supported by a grant from CIES.
In 1998, Breuer, was awarded an honorary degree from California Institute of the Arts
.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
academic, educator, film maker, poet, lyricist, writer and stage director.
Work with Mabou Mines
Lee Breuer is a founding artistic director of Mabou Mines Theater CompanyMabou Mines
Mabou Mines is an avant-garde theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City.-History:Mabou Mines is a collaborative, avant-garde theater company based in New York City...
in New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
, which he began in 1970 with colleagues Philip Glass
Philip Glass
Philip Glass is an American composer. He is considered to be one of the most influential composers of the late 20th century and is widely acknowledged as a composer who has brought art music to the public .His music is often described as minimalist, along with...
, Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech is an American avant-garde stage actress, whose most notable role may have been as King Lear, portrayed as an imperious Southern matriarch...
, JoAnne Akalaitis
JoAnne Akalaitis
JoAnne Akalaitis is an American theatre director and a writer and the winner of five Obie Awards for direction and founder of the critically acclaimed Mabou Mines in New York, from which she resigned after twenty years in June 1990.Akalaitis was pre-med and studied philosophy in college...
, David Warrilow, and Frederick Neuman.
Breuer's most recent work with Mabou Mines was the puppet opera, Red Beads, created in collaboration with puppeteer Basil Twist
Basil Twist
Basil Twist is a New York City-based puppeteer who is best known for his underwater puppet show, "Symphonie Fantastique".-Life and work:Originally from San Francisco, Basil Twist is a third generation puppeteer. He graduated from the École Supérieure Nationale des Arts de la Marionnette in...
and composer Ushio Torikai
Ushio Torikai
Ushio Torikai Ushio Torikai Ushio Torikai (鳥養潮; surname Torikai; is a Japanese composer of contemporary classical music.Ushio Torikai is known for her highly individual musical voice, developed over many years of research and compositional experience in diverse musical fields including European...
. Of the September 2005 New York City premiere, the New York Times said: "… 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."
His previous Mabou Mines production, Mabou Mines Dollhouse, a deconstruction of the Ibsen classic, won 2004 Obie Award
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
s for Best Director and Best Performance. The production continues its international touring with upcoming featured engagements including Paris, Hong Kong, and tours in Europe, America, Asia and Australia. Another production is being planned for production in Buenos Aires and touring in South America, and a high definition video production is being planned for international production and release.
Most of Breuer's previous work with Mabou Mines premiered at The Public Theater (NYC) under the patronage of the late Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
, and at the La Mama Experimental Theater Club under the patronage of Ellen Stewart. These include his Obie-winning adaptation of three works by Samuel 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...
:
Play, Come and Go and The Lost Ones.
He authored/directed Mabou Mines
Mabou Mines
Mabou Mines is an avant-garde theatre company founded in 1970 and based in New York City.-History:Mabou Mines is a collaborative, avant-garde theater company based in New York City...
' trilogy,
Animations, including The B Beaver, The Red Horse and The Shaggy Dog Animation, which was awarded the Obie for Beat 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.
The Gospel at Colonus
Breuer's best-known work is The Gospel at ColonusThe Gospel at Colonus
The Gospel at Colonus is a gospel version of Sophocles's tragedy, Oedipus at Colonus. The show was created in New York City in 1985 by the experimental-theatre director Lee Breuer, one of the founders of the seminal American avant-garde theatre company Mabou Mines, and composer Bob Telson. The...
, a Pentecostal Gospel rendering of Sophocles' Oedipus at Colonus
Oedipus at Colonus
Oedipus at Colonus is one of the three Theban plays of the Athenian tragedian Sophocles...
, created with composer Bob Telson and starring Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman
Morgan Freeman is an American actor, film director, aviator and narrator. He is noted for his reserved demeanor and authoritative speaking voice. Freeman has received Academy Award nominations for his performances in Street Smart, Driving Miss Daisy, The Shawshank Redemption and Invictus and won...
and Clarence Fountain. It premiered at the Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music
Brooklyn Academy of Music is a major performing arts venue in Brooklyn, a borough of New York City, United States, known as a center for progressive and avant garde performance....
'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), the Obie for Best Musical (1984), and an Emmy.
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 S. Dutton
Charles Stanley Dutton is an American stage, film, and television actor and director. He is perhaps best known for his roles as "Fortune" in the film Rudy and "Dillon" in Alien 3...
and Jevetta Steele.
Additional productions
Previously Lee Breuer mounted The TempestThe Tempest
The Tempest is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1610–11, and thought by many critics to be the last play that Shakespeare wrote alone. It is set on a remote island, where Prospero, the exiled Duke of Milan, plots to restore his daughter Miranda to her rightful place,...
for Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp
Joseph Papp was an American theatrical producer and director. Papp established The Public Theater in what had been the Astor Library Building in downtown New York . "The Public," as it is known, has many small theatres within it...
's Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park
Shakespeare in the Park is a concept used across the world, as a form of free public presentation of William Shakespeare's works. Such performances exist in Australia, Canada, New Zealand, Singapore, the United Kingdom, and the United States of America....
, starring Raul Julia
Raúl Juliá
Raúl Rafael Juliá y Arcelay was a Puerto Rican actor.Born in San Juan, he gained interest in acting while still in school. Upon completing his studies, Juliá decided to pursue a career in acting. After performing in the local scene for some time, he was convinced by entertainment personality Orson...
.
His music-theater collaborations as author and director with Bob Telson include Sister Suzie Cinema, which premiered at The Public Theater and was televised on the PBS series, "Alive from Off Center".
Lee Breuer has directed eleven Obie Award winning productions over a period of thirty years including David Warrilow in The Lost Ones (1974); Bill Raymond in A Prelude to Death in Venice (1979); Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech
Ruth Maleczech is an American avant-garde stage actress, whose most notable role may have been as King Lear, portrayed as an imperious Southern matriarch...
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 "Yi Sang Counts to Thirteen", which is now open-run in Korea(South)
Fellowships, awards, et al
Breuer has been:- John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation Fellow
- Bunting Fellow
- Guggenheim Fellow
- Fulbright Fellow (twice)
- Asian Cultural CouncilAsian Cultural CouncilThe Asian Cultural Council is an American non-profit organization dedicated to providing support to Asian-American cultural exchange in the areas of visual and performing arts.- History :...
grantee
He has won the Edinburgh Heralds Archangel Award and The Helen Hayes Award, in addition to numerous Obie
Obie Award
The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards given by The Village Voice newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City...
s.
He was a Japan-United States Friendship Commission exchange fellow and delivered the inaugural lectures for the Beckett Chair at Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin
Trinity College, Dublin , formally known as the College of the Holy and Undivided Trinity of Queen Elizabeth near Dublin, was founded in 1592 by letters patent from Queen Elizabeth I as the "mother of a university", Extracts from Letters Patent of Elizabeth I, 1592: "...we...found and...
, supported by a grant from CIES.
In 1998, Breuer, was awarded an honorary degree from California Institute of the Arts
California Institute of the Arts
The California Institute of the Arts, commonly referred to as CalArts, is located in Valencia, in Los Angeles County, California. It was incorporated in 1961 as the first degree-granting institution of higher learning in the United States created specifically for students of both the visual and the...
.
Teaching
Breuer has taught at the Yale University School of Drama (1986–99); Stanford University (1995–99); UC Santa Cruz (1994); Arizona State University West (1992–93) and Harvard University (Writers and Directors Seminar, 1981).Writings
Breuer's books include:- La Divina Caricature (Green Integer Series, Sun and Moon Press)
- Animations (Performing Arts Journal Publication)
- Sister Suzie Cinema: The Collected Poems and Performances, 1976-1986
- The Gospel at Colonus (both Theater Communications Group publications)
- The Warrior Ant, illustrated by Swan Weil (Vincent Fitzgerald Press)