Mel Shapiro
Encyclopedia
Mel Shapiro is an American
theatre director and writer
, college professor
, and author
.
Trained at Carnegie-Mellon University, Shapiro began his professional directing career at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and then as resident director at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.
. He was co-producing director at the Guthrie Theater
in Minneapolis and has worked as guest director at the Hartford Stage Company
, the Center Theatre Group
in Los Angeles
(where he directed the American Premiere of Dario Fo
's Accidental Death of an Anarchist
), the National Playwright's Conference of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada
.
Shapiro's off-Broadway
productions include the original staging of John Guare
's The House of Blue Leaves
, which won the New York Drama Critics' Circle
Award for Best American Play in 1971, and Rachel Owen's The Karl Marx Play for the American Place Theatre. London
productions include the musicals
Two Gentlemen of Verona
and Kings and Clowns.
For Broadway
, Shapiro co-wrote the book (with Guare
) and directed the 1971 musical adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona
and directed the 1978 revival of Stop the World - I Want to Get Off
with Sammy Davis, Jr.
as well as John Guare
's 1979 play Bosoms and Neglect
. He has staged works at Lincoln Center, including Václav Havel
's The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, which won an Obie Award
for Best Foreign Play and Shakespeare
's Richard III
. His relationship with Joseph Papp
spanned six years at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater. Among his productions there are Guare's Rich and Famous, Marco Polo Sings a Solo, and John Ford Noonan
's Older People.
Shapiro was one of the founding members of New York University
's Tisch School of the Arts
and served as the head of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama
. He currently is the head of graduate acting for the Theatre Department at the University of California, Los Angeles
. He has taught and directed at the Queensland University of Technology
's Theatre School in Brisbane
, Australia
, and is scheduled to direct at the National Institute of Dramatic Art
in Sydney
, Australia, in Fall, 2011. He has served on the boards of the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers
, and the Fund for New American Plays at the Kennedy Center
.
Shapiro is the author of The Director's Companion and An Actor Performs.
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theatre director and writer
Writer
A writer is a person who produces literature, such as novels, short stories, plays, screenplays, poetry, or other literary art. Skilled writers are able to use language to portray ideas and images....
, college professor
Professor
A professor is a scholarly teacher; the precise meaning of the term varies by country. Literally, professor derives from Latin as a "person who professes" being usually an expert in arts or sciences; a teacher of high rank...
, and author
Author
An author is broadly defined as "the person who originates or gives existence to anything" and that authorship determines responsibility for what is created. Narrowly defined, an author is the originator of any written work.-Legal significance:...
.
Trained at Carnegie-Mellon University, Shapiro began his professional directing career at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and then as resident director at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C.
Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly referred to as Washington, "the District", or simply D.C., is the capital of the United States. On July 16, 1790, the United States Congress approved the creation of a permanent national capital as permitted by the U.S. Constitution....
. He was co-producing director at the Guthrie Theater
Guthrie Theater
The Guthrie Theater is a center for theater performance, production, education, and professional training in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It is the result of the desire of Sir Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler to create a resident acting company that would produce and perform the classics in...
in Minneapolis and has worked as guest director at the Hartford Stage Company
Hartford Stage
Hartford Stage, located in Hartford, Connecticut, is one of the leading resident theatres in the United States, known internationally for entertaining and enlightening audiences with a wide range of the best of world drama, from classics to provocative new plays and musicals and neglected works...
, the Center Theatre Group
Center Theatre Group
Center Theatre Group is a non-profit arts organization located in Los Angeles, California. It is one of the largest theatre companies in the nation, programming subscription seasons year-round at the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theatre and the Kirk Douglas Theatre...
in Los Angeles
Los Ángeles
Los Ángeles is the capital of the province of Biobío, in the commune of the same name, in Region VIII , in the center-south of Chile. It is located between the Laja and Biobío rivers. The population is 123,445 inhabitants...
(where he directed the American Premiere of Dario Fo
Dario Fo
Dario Fo is an Italian satirist, playwright, theater director, actor and composer. His dramatic work employs comedic methods of the ancient Italian commedia dell'arte, a theatrical style popular with the working classes. He currently owns and operates a theatre company with his wife, actress...
's Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist
Accidental Death of an Anarchist is perhaps the best-known play by the Nobel Prize winner Dario Fo.- About the play :...
), the National Playwright's Conference of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
Eugene O'Neill Theater Center
The Eugene O'Neill Memorial Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut is a 501 not-for-profit theater company founded in 1964 by George C. White. The O'Neill is the recipient of the . The O'Neill is home to the National Theater Institute , and several major theater conferences including the...
and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada
Canada
Canada is a North American country consisting of ten provinces and three territories. Located in the northern part of the continent, it extends from the Atlantic Ocean in the east to the Pacific Ocean in the west, and northward into the Arctic Ocean...
.
Shapiro's off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
productions include the original staging of John Guare
John Guare
John Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
's The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves
The House of Blue Leaves is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1966 by Eugene O'Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Connecticut....
, which won the New York Drama Critics' Circle
New York Drama Critics' Circle
The New York Drama Critics' Circle is made up of 24 drama critics from daily newspapers, magazines and wire services based in the New York City metropolitan area. The organization was founded in 1935 at the Algonquin Hotel by a group that included Brooks Atkinson, Walter Winchell, and Robert Benchley...
Award for Best American Play in 1971, and Rachel Owen's The Karl Marx Play for the American Place Theatre. London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
productions include the musicals
Musical theatre
Musical theatre is a form of theatre combining songs, spoken dialogue, acting, and dance. The emotional content of the piece – humor, pathos, love, anger – as well as the story itself, is communicated through the words, music, movement and technical aspects of the entertainment as an...
Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical)
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
and Kings and Clowns.
For Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
, Shapiro co-wrote the book (with Guare
John Guare
John Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
) and directed the 1971 musical adaptation of Two Gentlemen of Verona
Two Gentlemen of Verona (musical)
Two Gentlemen of Verona is a rock musical, with a book by John Guare and Mel Shapiro, lyrics by Guare and music by Galt MacDermot, based on the Shakespeare comedy of the same name....
and directed the 1978 revival of Stop the World - I Want to Get Off
Stop the World - I Want to Get Off
Stop the World – I Want to Get Off is a musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Leslie Bricusse and Anthony Newley.Set against the backdrop of a circus, it focuses on Littlechap, whose first major step towards improving his lot is to marry Evie, his boss's daughter...
with Sammy Davis, Jr.
Sammy Davis, Jr.
Samuel George "Sammy" Davis Jr. was an American entertainer and was also known for his impersonations of actors and other celebrities....
as well as John Guare
John Guare
John Guare is an American playwright. He is best known as the author of The House of Blue Leaves, Six Degrees of Separation, and Landscape of the Body...
's 1979 play Bosoms and Neglect
Bosoms and Neglect
Bosoms and Neglect is a play by American playwright John Guare, first staged in 1979 at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, Illinois.-Productions:...
. He has staged works at Lincoln Center, including Václav Havel
Václav Havel
Václav Havel is a Czech playwright, essayist, poet, dissident and politician. He was the tenth and last President of Czechoslovakia and the first President of the Czech Republic . He has written over twenty plays and numerous non-fiction works, translated internationally...
's The Increased Difficulty of Concentration, which won an 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...
for Best Foreign Play and 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"...
's Richard III
Richard III (play)
Richard III is a history play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in approximately 1591. It depicts the Machiavellian rise to power and subsequent short reign of Richard III of England. The play is grouped among the histories in the First Folio and is most often classified...
. His relationship with 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...
spanned six years at the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theater. Among his productions there are Guare's Rich and Famous, Marco Polo Sings a Solo, and John Ford Noonan
John Ford Noonan
John Ford Noonan is a prolific American actor, and writer for theater, film and television. Born in New York City in 1943, he wrote his first play, Lazarus was a Lady in 1970 followed by Concerning the Effects of Trimethylchoride in 1971 and other plays such as The Club Champion’s Widow in 1978,...
's Older People.
Shapiro was one of the founding members of New York University
New York University
New York University is a private, nonsectarian research university based in New York City. NYU's main campus is situated in the Greenwich Village section of Manhattan...
's Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts
Tisch School of the Arts is one of the 15 schools that make up New York University ....
and served as the head of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama
Carnegie Mellon School of Drama
The Carnegie Mellon School of Drama is the oldest degree-granting drama program in the United States, founded in 1914 as a division of the College of Fine Arts at Carnegie Mellon University in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States....
. He currently is the head of graduate acting for the Theatre Department at the University of California, Los Angeles
University of California, Los Angeles
The University of California, Los Angeles is a public research university located in the Westwood neighborhood of Los Angeles, California, USA. It was founded in 1919 as the "Southern Branch" of the University of California and is the second oldest of the ten campuses...
. He has taught and directed at the Queensland University of Technology
Queensland University of Technology
Queensland University of Technology is an Australian university with an applied emphasis in courses and research. Based in Brisbane, it has 40,000 students, including 6,000 international students, over 4,000 staff members, and an annual budget of more than A$750 million.QUT is marketed as "A...
's Theatre School in Brisbane
Brisbane
Brisbane is the capital and most populous city in the Australian state of Queensland and the third most populous city in Australia. Brisbane's metropolitan area has a population of over 2 million, and the South East Queensland urban conurbation, centred around Brisbane, encompasses a population of...
, Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and is scheduled to direct at the National Institute of Dramatic Art
National Institute of Dramatic Art
The National Institute of Dramatic Art is an Australian national training institute for students of theatre, film, and television, based in the Sydney suburb of Kensington. It is supported by the federal Office for the Arts, Department of the Prime Minister and Cabinet. NIDA is located adjacent...
in Sydney
Sydney
Sydney is the most populous city in Australia and the state capital of New South Wales. Sydney is located on Australia's south-east coast of the Tasman Sea. As of June 2010, the greater metropolitan area had an approximate population of 4.6 million people...
, Australia, in Fall, 2011. He has served on the boards of the Pittsburgh Public Theatre, the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers
Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers
The Stage Directors and Choreographers Society , formerly known as Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers , is an independent national labor union established in 1959, representing theatrical directors and choreographers, working on Broadway and on National tours, Off-Broadway, and in...
, and the Fund for New American Plays at the Kennedy Center
John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts is a performing arts center located on the Potomac River, adjacent to the Watergate complex in Washington, D.C...
.
Shapiro is the author of The Director's Companion and An Actor Performs.
Awards and nominations
- 1972 Tony Award for Best Book of a MusicalTony Award for Best Book of a MusicalThe Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical is awarded to librettists of the spoken, non-sung dialogue, and storyline of a musical play. Eligibility is restricted to works with original narrative framework; plotless revues and revivals are ineligible...
(Two Gentlemen, winner) - 1972 Tony Award for Best Direction of a MusicalTony Award for Best Direction of a MusicalThis is a list of winners and nominations for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical. Prior to 1960, category for direction included plays and musicals.-1950s:Note: this category was for both dramatic and musical productions...
(Two Gentlemen, nominee) - 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a MusicalThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Book of a Musical is presented by the Drama Desk, a committee which comprises New York City theatre critics, writers, and editors...
(Two Gentlemen, winner) - 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a PlayDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a PlayThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
(Older People, winner) - 1972 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a MusicalDrama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a MusicalThe Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical was first awarded at the 1974–1975 Drama Desk Awards and has been awarded every year since...
(Two Gentlemen, winner)