Gene Feist
Gene Feist (January 16, 1923 – March 17, 2014, New York City)Although 1930 is usually cited as Gene Feist's year of birth, both Intelius and 1930 census records show he was actually born in 1923. was an American playwright, theater director and co-founder of the Roundabout Theater Company. He authored 15 plays or adaptations, of which two were published by Samuel French Inc. – James Joyce's Dublin and The Lady from Maxim's.
Early life
Feist was born Eugene Feist in Brooklyn, the son of Hattie (Fishbein), a beautician, and Henry Feist, a bar owner and, later, a cab driver.{{cite web|url=http://www.filmreference.com/film/42/Gene-Feist.html|title=Gene Feist Biography (1930-)|website=Filmreference.com|accessdate=21 October 2017}} Along with his identical twin brother Harold, Feist grew up in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father owned and operated a bar in Coney Island at Seagate and Surf Avenue named Indian Village but referred to as "The Bucket of Blood" due to its rough clientele. Feist's love of reading made him a target of teasing during his youth. He attended a vocational high school for newspaper printing press operators. After graduating he joined the United States Army Air Forces where he was trained as an airplane mechanic but quickly moved to a post as editor of the Biggs (Texas) Air Field newspaper, "Bigg Stuff". During World War II he was stationed in the Philippines and later occupied Japan, writing for other military newspapers and serving as a librarian.
After the war he attended Carnegie Tech, which later became Carnegie Mellon University. There he became a close friend of the artist and fellow student Andy Warhol.{{cite news|url=http://mobile.nytimes.com/2014/03/23/nyregion/gene-feist-founder-of-the-roundabout-theater-company-is-dead-at-91.html?referrer=|title=Gene Feist, Founder of the Roundabout Theater Company, Is Dead at 91|author=Bruce Weber|date=March 22, 2014|newspaper=The New York Times|accessdate=21 October 2017}}
Career
With his wife Kathe, known professionally as stage actress "Elizabeth Owens", he revived the New Theater in Nashville, Tennessee, and, in 1965, Gene and Kathe Feist founded the Roundabout Theatre Company, first located in the basement of a supermarket building owned by the housing development in Manhattan where the Feists lived. Owens appeared in more than 30 plays over the next 25 years, while Gene Feist served as the Roundabout's founding director.
In the 1960s, Gene Feist was the Dramatics Teacher, Director of the Drama Department, and 7th grade English Teacher at Albert Leonard Junior High School, in the city of New Rochelle, New York.
Personal life
Feist married Irma "Kathe" Schneider (February 26, 1928 – March 7, 2005) on February 10, 1957. They had two daughters. The couple reached their 48th wedding anniversary several weeks before her death.
Death
Kathe Feist predeceased him. She died from breast cancer, aged 77, on March 7, 2005. Gene Feist died at the age of 91 on March 17, 2014, in Englewood, New Jersey. He is survived by two daughters, a grandson and a granddaughter.{{cite web|url=http://www.thevillager.com/villager_106/elizabethowens77.html|title=Elizabeth Owens, 77, stage actress and a resident of Penn South co-op|website=Thevillager.com|accessdate=21 October 2017|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20130902003239/http://thevillager.com/villager_106/elizabethowens77.html|archive-date=2 September 2013|url-status=dead}}{{cite web |url=http://m.playbill.com//news/article/188956-Gene-Feist-Founder-of-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-Dies-at-91 |title=Gene Feist, Founder of Roundabout Theatre Company, Dies at 91 - Mobile Playbill.com |accessdate=2014-03-20 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20140407073908/http://m.playbill.com//news/article/188956-Gene-Feist-Founder-of-Roundabout-Theatre-Company-Dies-at-91 |archivedate=2014-04-07 }}
References
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External links
- {{IBDB name|14750|Gene Feist}}
- {{IBDB name|406765|Elizabeth Owens}}
- [http://www.filmreference.com/film/42/Gene-Feist.html Gene Feist Film Reference biography]
- [http://theater2.nytimes.com/mem/theater/treview.html?res=9C07EEDA1438F933A25751C1A967948260 New York Times theater section]
- [http://www.nypl.org/archives/82558 Gene Feist papers, 1930s-2000], Billy Rose Theatre Division, New York Public Library for the Performing Arts
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Category:American theatre directors
Category:American theatre managers and producers