Lee Breuer facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Lee Breuer
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| Born |
Esser Leopold Breuer
February 6, 1937 Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, U.S.
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| Died | January 3, 2021 (aged 83) New York City, New York, U.S.
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| Education | University of California, Los Angeles |
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| Spouse(s) |
Ruth Maleczech
(m. 1978; died 2013)Maude Mitchell
(m. 2015) |
| Children | 5 |
Esser Leopold Breuer (February 6, 1937 – January 3, 2021) was an amazing American artist. He was a playwright, meaning he wrote plays. He was also a director, guiding actors and plays on stage. Lee Breuer taught and directed theater all over the world, on six different continents! He helped create many famous and unique shows.
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Lee Breuer's Theater Journey
Lee Breuer was one of the people who started the Mabou Mines Theater Company in New York City in 1970. He created this company with friends like Philip Glass and Ruth Maleczech. Mabou Mines became known for its very creative and often unusual plays.
Breuer worked on many exciting projects with Mabou Mines. In 2013, he directed a show called La Divina Caricatura: Part I The Shaggy Dog. Another famous play was Red Beads in 2005. This play was based on a Russian folk story. It used puppets made by Basil Twist and music by Ushio Torikai. A newspaper critic from The New York Times said it was like "theater as sorcery" and "a fairy tale."
One of his most well-known plays was Mabou Mines Dollhouse. This play was a new look at a classic story by Henrik Ibsen. It won awards in 2004 for Best Director and Best Performance. The show traveled all over the world. Breuer even made a video version for TV in Europe.
Many of Breuer's plays with Mabou Mines first showed at famous theaters in New York City. These included The Public Theater and La Mama Experimental Theater Club. He also adapted three works by Samuel Beckett, which won an award.
Breuer wrote and directed a series of plays called Animations. This included The B Beaver, The Red Horse, and The Shaggy Dog Animation. The Shaggy Dog Animation won an award for Best Play in 1978. He also won awards for writing and directing A Prelude to a Death in Venice. Another play, An Epidog, won an award from the Kennedy Center.
The Gospel at Colonus: A Famous Play
Lee Breuer's most famous work is The Gospel at Colonus. He created this play with composer Bob Telson. It tells an ancient Greek story, Oedipus at Colonus, using powerful Pentecostal Gospel music. Famous actors like Morgan Freeman and Clarence Fountain starred in it.
The play first opened at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Later, it moved to Broadway in 1988. It was nominated for a Tony Award, which is a very big award for theater. The Gospel at Colonus won many other awards too. These included a Pulitzer Prize nomination and an Emmy Award.
This amazing play was performed all over the world in cities like Paris, London, and Moscow. It was even brought back for the 70th birthday of New York's famous Apollo Theater in 2004.
Other Important Productions
In 1981, Lee Breuer directed The Tempest with Ruth Maleczech. This was for Joseph Papp's Shakespeare in the Park series. Raul Julia was the star. Breuer's daughter, Clove Galilee, even played "Young Miranda" in the show!
Breuer also worked with Bob Telson on other musical plays. These included Sister Suzie Cinema and The Warrior Ant. He directed many award-winning shows over 40 years. He also directed a play in South Korea called Yi Sang Counts to Thirteen.
In 2011, Breuer taught a workshop in New Delhi, India. There, he created a puppet opera called La Divina Caricatura. It used puppets and was inspired by traditional Indian stories.
Lee Breuer's Life Story
Lee Breuer was born in Philadelphia. He studied English at the University of California, Los Angeles.
He married Ruth Maleczech in 1978. They had two children, Clove Galilee and Lute Breuer. They were married until Ruth passed away in 2013. Lee also had three other children from different relationships: Alexander Tiappa Klimovitsky, Mojo Lorwin, and Wah Mohn. In 2015, he married Maude Mitchell, who he had met in 1999.
All of Breuer's children grew up to be artists, just like him! They often worked with him on his projects.
Lee Breuer passed away at his home in Brooklyn Heights on January 3, 2021, at the age of 83.
Awards and Honors
Lee Breuer received many awards and honors for his work in theater.
- In 2011, he was named a USA Ford Fellow in Theater Arts.
- His play Mabou Mines Dollhouse won the Elliot Norton award in 2011.
- In 2006, he was given the Chevalier of the Order of Arts and Letters by France.
- He won an OBIE Award for directing MABOU MINES DOLLHOUSE in 2004.
- PETER AND WENDY won an OBIE Award for Best Production in 1997.
- Mabou Mines received an OBIE Award for 'Sustained Achievement' in 1986.
- GOSPEL AT COLONUS won many awards, including an OBIE Award for 'Best Musical' in 1984.
- He won an OBIE Award in 1980 for his script and direction of A PRELUDE TO DEATH IN VENICE.
- THE SHAGGY DOG ANIMATION won an OBIE Award for Best Play in 1978.
- In 1998, he received an honorary degree from California Institute of the Arts.
He also received many fellowships, which are special grants that help artists create new work. These included fellowships from the John D. & Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation and the Guggenheim Foundation.
Teaching and Sharing Knowledge
Lee Breuer loved to teach and share his theater knowledge with others. He taught at many universities around the world.
- From 1986 to 1989, he was a Co-Chair of the Directing Department at Yale University School of Drama.
- He was a Professor of Theater at Stanford University from 1995 to 1999.
- He also taught at Duke University, Harvard University, and New York University.
- He gave master classes in Moscow, St. Petersburg, and Shanghai.
- He taught workshops in China, Japan, and India, sharing his unique approach to theater with students globally.
