Daniel C. Gerould facts for kids

Daniel Charles Gerould (born March 28, 1928 – died February 13, 2012) was a very important professor and expert in theatre. He taught at the CUNY Graduate Center and helped lead the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center. Daniel Gerould was a scholar, teacher, translator, editor, and even a playwright! He knew a lot about American melodrama (a type of play with big emotions and clear good vs. evil), theatre from Central and Eastern Europe in the 1900s, and exciting new plays from the late 1800s in Europe.

Gerould was especially known for his work on Stanisław Ignacy Witkiewicz ("Witkacy"), a famous Polish playwright, novelist, painter, and philosopher. Daniel Gerould helped introduce Witkacy's amazing works to people who spoke English. He did this by translating many of Witkacy's plays and writing books about him, like The Beelzebub Sonata and The Witkiewicz Reader.

Daniel Gerould's Career

Daniel Gerould started his teaching journey at the University of Arkansas from 1949 to 1951. He studied French Literature in Paris in 1955 and earned his PhD in Comparative Literature (which means studying literature from different countries) from the University of Chicago in 1959.

From 1959 to 1968, Gerould taught at San Francisco State University. There, he even started the Department of World and Comparative Literature. In 1968, his play Candaules Commissioner was performed for the first time. It was a comedy that talked about the Vietnam War. In 1970, he began teaching at the Graduate Center, CUNY.

Helping East European Theatre

In 1981, Daniel Gerould started the Institute for Contemporary East European Drama and Theatre. He worked with Alma Law on this project. They also edited a publication that shared news about theatre from Eastern Europe. It was first called Newsnotes on Soviet and East European Drama and Theatre, then Soviet and East European Performance, and finally Slavic and East European Performance.

Gerould was a very active and important person at the Martin E. Segal Theatre Center at CUNY. He was the executive director from 2004 to 2008. After that, he became the director of academic affairs and publications.

Daniel Gerould's Work

Daniel Gerould's writings often included interesting personal stories about historical figures. He used these stories to help explain important theatre ideas. You can see this in his book Theatre/Theory/Theory.

He was known for being interested in "little-known works by obscure artists." Gerould once said he was more interested in artists who were "underrated" rather than those who were "overexposed and universally celebrated." He mentioned Witkacy as a great example of this.

Awards and Recognition

His translations of Polish works won many awards. These included the Witkacy Prize in 1983 from the Polish Centre of the International Theatre Institute. He also received awards from the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle and other organizations.

Gerould also helped bring many plays that were forgotten or rarely performed to stages in New York and other U.S. cities. For example, he brought Witkiewicz's play The Crazy Locomotive to the Chelsea Theatre Center. This production was directed by Des McAnuff and even featured famous actress Glenn Close.

He received the City University of New York Award for Excellence in Teaching. He was also honored by Theater Without Borders (TWB) for being a "Groundbreaker" in international theatre exchanges.

Daniel Gerould's Personal Life

Daniel Gerould was born in Cambridge in 1928. His father was a journalist from a family that had been whalers in New England. In 2010, Gerould wrote in his book QuickChange about going to plays with his mother in the 1930s and early 1940s. These trips helped him become a lifelong "intensive spectator" (someone who watches theatre very closely).

He remembered seeing famous actors like Ethel Barrymore in The Corn Is Green and Boris Karloff in Arsenic and Old Lace. He felt very comfortable in audiences and loved to applaud great acting.

Gerould graduated from Boston Latin High School and started at the University of Chicago when he was just 16. He later traveled to Paris as an exchange student in 1954-55. This trip further grew his love for theatre and being an enthusiastic audience member.

Daniel Gerould was married to Jadwiga Kosicka, who was also a Polish scholar and translator. They often worked together. His older sister, Joanne Simpson, was the first woman to earn a PhD in meteorology (the study of weather).