Lucille Lortel, a pioneer, philanthropist, and the producer who put Off-Broadway on the cultural map, died on Sun., April 4, after a brief illness.
She will be long remembered for her contribution to the face of the American Theatre. Active as a producer right up until her death, she was planning the annual Lucille Lortel Awards for Off-Broadway theatre when she fell ill.
Born Lucille Wadler in New York City, Lortel trained as an actress at The American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York, and in Europe with Arnold Korff, a member of the famed Max Reinhardt theatre company. She appeared in stock before making her Broadway debut with the stage name Lucille Lortel, considering as her official debut the Theatre Guild production of Shaw's "Caesar and Cleopatra" with Helen Hayes.
Married to industrialist Louis Schweitzer in 1931, Lortel was temporarily sidetracked from theatrical life by a husband who desired a wife and traveling companion in a more traditional vein. When her husband bought an estate in Westport, Conn., Lortel commuted from her apartment in the ritzy Plaza Hotel, seeking to find an outlet for her interests. Suburban social life bored her, so she sought to alleviate her ennui by providing the venue for an untested play, "Painted Wagon," by Philip Huston and Elizabeth Goodyear, in a white barn on her Connecticut property.
From its modest beginnings in 1947 as a site for readings of new plays, the White Barn Theatre flourished into a full-scale summer theatre, with paid actors and staff, scenery, and costumes and‹for a time‹a theatre school. Over 50 years later, the theatre continues to operate. During Lortel's tenure at the White Barn, she produced new works by American playwrights, as well as the American premieres of plays by Sean O'Casey, Eugene Ionesco, and Samuel Beckett, among others.
Schweitzer grew to accept his wife's dedication to producing theatre, and as an anniversary present in 1955, presented Lortel with the then-seedy Theatre de Lys on Christopher Street in Greenwich Village. She immediately brought the acclaimed production of Kurt Weill's "Threepenny Opera" with its new adaptation of book and lyrics by the controversial Marc Blitzstein, back to the de Lys. The show had been forced to close its original engagement there. but the revival went on for over 2,700 performances, closing in 1961.
Lortel found a way to use the de Lys stage during the daylight hours, establishing a series of matinee productions with the co-sponsorship of the American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA), New York. The premiere production was Alan Paton's "Cry the Beloved Country" with Earle Hyman, Mary Morris, and Rosetta LeNoire. The Matinee Series continued successfully for 20 years, becoming a haven for playwrights, actors, and directors unable to find support on the commercial stage. They included John Dos Passos, Langston Hughes, Katherine Anne Porter, and Tennessee Williams.
In addition to running the White Barn Theatre and the Theatre de Lys (renamed the Lucille Lortel Theatre in 1980), Lortel produced over 500 plays and musicals in other Off-Broadway venues, and at the Coolidge Auditorium at the Library of Congress. She also lent a helping hand to many struggling Off-Broadway groups, producing Genet's "The Balcony," which won the Obie Award for Best Foreign Play, and the American premiere of Athol Fugard's "Blood Knot" at New York's Cricket Theatre.
Not only did she reach out to individual artists, providing the space for them to create and nurture their theatrical dreams, but Lortel opened her purse was open to the needy as well. Her philanthropic generosity ranged from personal gifts to friends and associates in need, to substantial donations to such institutions as the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts' Theatre on Film and Tape project. A sizeable grant to The Players (the venerated theatrical club where in 1989 Lortel became one of the first women admitted), was earmarked solely for the construction of a ladies' room on the Grill level of the townhouse.
Among the many institutions Lortel supported are the Museum of the City of New York, the Graduate Center of CUNY, the Westport Public Library, Yale University's Playwriting Program, and Brown University, where the Lucille Lortel Playwriting Fund, which offers fellowships to student playwrights, was created in 1995.
She received countless awards, among them a special Tony for "Threepenny Opera," an Emmy for "Gertrude Stein and a Companion," and several Obies. In addition to honorary doctorates, she was awarded special citations from the State of Connecticut, and the cities of New York and Westport. Her many other honors included the Theatre Hall of Fame's Arnold Weissberger Award, the Lucille Lortel Chair in Distinguished Professorial Theatre at CUNY's Graduate Center, and the Kennedy Center Achievement Award.
Schweitzer predeceased Lortel in 1971; she is survived by the children of her late brother, violinist Waldo Mayo. Her funeral was held on April 6 at the Frank E. Campbell funeral home; a public memorial will be scheduled for a later date.
