To Repair the World: Zelda Fichandler and the Transformation of American Theater (Routledge Advances in Theatre & Performance Studies)

This book is a biography in the form of an oral history about a woman whose founding of Arena Stage in Washington, DC in 1950 shifted live professional theater away from Broadway and inspired the creation of non-profit theaters around the country. Dianne Wiest, James Earl Jones, Stacy Keach, and Jane Alexander, among many others, share their memories of this intrepid pioneering woman during Arena Stage’s early years. As Head of New York University’s Graduate Acting Program for 25 years, Zelda Fichandler also trained a younger generation of gifted actors. Marcia Gay Harden, Rainn Wilson, Mahershala Ali, and other developing actors who became “artist-citizens” under her guidance, talk about the ways in which she transformed their lives. Theater practitioners who have lived during Zelda Fichandler’s time will find this book a fascinating and entertaining read––as will all theater lovers, especially those in Washington, DC. And through this vivid and compelling oral history, students and aspiring artists will come to grasp how the theatrical past can shed essential light on the theater of today and tomorrow. Dedication Contents Note Foreword Preface Prologue: Destined to Be a Pioneer: Boston and Washington, DC, 1924 to 1950 1 Something Was Happening There: Arena Stage, 1950 to 1961 2 Making a Point: Arena Stage, 1961 to 1967 3 Trapped in the Ring: Arena Stage, 1967 to 1968 4 Tension Between the Old and the New: Arena Stage, 1969 to 1973 5 A Long-Postponed Rendezvous: Arena Stage in the Soviet Union, 1973 6 Passionately Involved in Everything: Arena Stage, 1973 to 1978 7 A Very Charmed Circle of People: Arena Stage, 1978 to 1984 8 Changing the Zeitgeist: New York University, 1984 to 1991 9 Adding Some New Energy: Arena Stage, 1984 to 1988 10 An Unbridgeable Aesthetic Gulf: Arena Stage, 1986 to 1987 11 A Sense of Completion: Arena Stage in Israel, 1987 12 Returning to the Room with Actors: Arena Stage, 1987 to 1991 13 Being a Missionary: The Acting Company, 1991 to 1994 14 Taking Those Big Risks: New York University, 1991 to 2000 15 Keeping the Door Open: Arena Stage, 1991 to 2008 16 We Carry on Telling Stories: New York University, 2001 to 2008 17 How Do We Move It Forward?: Washington, DC, 2008 to 2016 Afterword: Passing the Fire Acknowledgments List of Contributors Selected Bibliography Permissions Index