To Repair the World: Zelda Fichandler and the Transformation of American Theater [Hardcover]

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.?

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 Stages early years.

As Head of New York Universitys 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 Fichandlers time will find this book a fascinating and entertaining readas 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.

Note

Foreword by Jane Alexander

Preface

Prologue: Destined to be a Pioneer: Boston and Washington DC, 1924 to 1950

Chapter 1. Something Was Happening There: Arena Stage, 1950 to 1961

Chapter 2. Making a Point: Arena Stage, 1961 to 1967

Chapter 3. Trapped in the Ring: Arena Stage, 1967 to 1968

Chapter 4. Tension Between the Old and the New: Arena Stage, 1969 to 197lU