Papp, Joseph, 1921–91, American theatrical director and producer, b. New York City as Joseph Papirofsky. Papp, a major influence in American theater, founded the nonprofit New York Shakespeare Festival in 1954. He sought to make Shakespeare's works and other fine plays available to the public. In 1957 the city granted him a site in Central Park for free productions of Shakespeare. Persevering and energetic, Papp also obtained (1967) from the city the Astor Library Building, where he produced plays, movies, and experimental works by new artists in the Public Theater (since 1992, Joseph Papp Public Theater). Several productions, such as Chorus Line (1975), moved to Broadway; the profits helped finance the Public Theater for many years. A strong advocate of creative freedom, Papp was an important promoter of off-Broadway theater. His Central Park productions of a musical version of Two Gentlemen of Verona (1971) and Much Ado About Nothing (1972) were both so successful that they were given extended runs on Broadway.

Bibliography

See biographies by S. Little (1974) and H. Epstein (1994).

Papp, Joseph

orig. Joseph Papirofsky

(born June 22, 1921, Brooklyn, N.Y., U.S.—died Oct. 31, 1991, New York, N.Y.) U.S. theatrical producer and director. He studied acting and directing and worked as a stage manager for CBS television. In 1954 he founded the New York Shakespeare Festival, which gave free performances of Shakespeare's plays in city parks. He produced and directed most of the plays; in 1962 the Delacorte Theatre in Central Park was built as the company's permanent home. In 1967 he founded the New York Shakespeare Festival Public Theatre, which concentrated on contemporary and experimental dramas. Several productions traveled to Broadway, including Hair (1967) and A Chorus Line (1975). Papp remained one of Off-Broadway's most active producers into the 1980s. He served as artistic director of the Shakespeare Festival and the Public Theatre until his death.

Papp, Joseph (b. Papirofsky) (1921–91) theater producer, director; born in New York City. Son of an emigrant Russian-Jewish trunkmaker and pushcart peddler, his first experience with theater was producing navy shows on a flattop in the Pacific. Back in New York, he worked on off-Broadway plays and in 1954 produced the first of his free, outdoor Shakespeare plays in the Lower East Side. He then moved his free productions to Central Park, founding the still-operating New York Shakespeare Festival, noted for its endless series of Shakespeare plays with often unusual settings, casts, and accents. In 1967 he founded the Public Theatre, committed to productions not usually done in the commercial theater; one such, Chorus Line, was so successful that it helped support years of less popular productions. Active until his final months, he maintained a love-hate relationship with many of the theater people who worked with him, but all agreed he was a one-of-a-kind theatrical genius.