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Jules Irving (né Julius Israel, in New York City, April 13, 1925 - Reno, Nevada, July 28, 1979) was an American actor, director, educator, and producer, who in the 1950s co-founded the San Francisco Actor's Workshop. When the Actor's Workshop closed in 1966, Irving moved to New York City and became the first Producing Director of the Repertory Company of the Vivian Beaumont Theater of Lincoln Center. In 1955, the Actor's Workshop was the first West Coast theater to sign an Equity "Off-Broadway" contract. Irving had started the Workshop with fellow New Yorker Herbert Blau, whom he knew from undergraduate days at New York University and then during graduate study at Stanford University.〔Fowler, Keith, ''A History of the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop'', 1969, Yale Drama Library | Series I. Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism Doctoral Dissertations | http://drs.library.yale.edu:8083/HLTransformer/HLTransServlet?stylename=yul.ead2002.xhtml.xsl&pid=arts:dra.0027&query=&clear-stylesheet-cache=yes&hlon=yes&big=&adv=&filter=&hitPageStart=&sortFields=&view=c01_1#s1〕 The men were both professors at San Francisco State, Irving in the Drama department and Blau in English. Known to friends as "Buddy," Irving was from childhood deeply involved in theater, supported in this by his family along with his older brother Richard, despite a degree of religious reservation inculcated by bizarre bearded Russian/Yiddish-speaking rabbinical teachers that dis-inspired what Irving called a "lost generation" of the children of Jewish immigrants.〔Noted in a typewritten essay, “Profile: The Talented Professor,” by S.F. State student Margaret Wood, based on interviews with Irving, n.d. (), in the papers of Jules Irving at Lincoln Center〕 He was active in school shows and made his Broadway debut at the age of thirteen in George S. Kaufman's ''The American Way''. He joined the army in 1943, serving in the infantry during the Battle of the Bulge and as a Russian translator when his unit met Soviet forces. After V-E Day, he transferred to Special Services and had the opportunity to hone his theater managerial skills as he organized camp shows under Joshua Logan.〔Fowler, 23〕 == San Francisco Actor's Workshop, 1952-1966== From its inception on January 16, 1952 in a loft above a judo academy on Divisadero Street in San Francisco to its formal demise in 1966, the Actor's Workshop set new standards as a pioneer of resident professional art theater in the United States.〔Fowler, 820〕 Among those present in 1952 for a "study group" or "workshop" were Irving, Blau, their wives, Priscilla Pointer and Beatrice Manley; Hal J. Todd, who had been at Stanford with Irving and Blau; Richard Glyer, an instructor at San Francisco State University; Paul Cox, an aspiring playwright; and S. F. State student Dan Whiteside.〔Fowler, 13〕 Irving was "managing director"; he shared artistic leadership with Blau (who was "consulting director," but had not yet directed a show). Irving guided the theater's finances and led primary day-by-day operations of the company's growth to its Elgin Street playhouse and then to offices on Folsom Street and two year-round theaters, the Encore and the Marines' Memorial. A major transition occurred in 1956 when the Workshop was evicted from Elgin Street to make room for a new freeway. The company had an option to renew its lease on the Marines' Memorial Theater but no money. Enter a young Canadian, Alan Mandell, who as volunteer Business Manager (and ''de facto'' chief executive with Irving) helped inaugurate the first subscription season for the Actor's Workshop.〔Fowler, 205ff.〕 Irving and Blau were insistent idealists who developed the Workshop in the tradition of the Group Theatre of the 1930s; they and key company members were dedicated to principles of social responsibility and ensemble artistry.〔Fowler, 160〕 The troupe's repertoire focused initially on Miller and other modern American writers, such as Odets, O'Neill, and Tennessee Williams, but soon expanded to the contemporary world dramas of Samuel Beckett, Brecht, Genet, John Osborne, Yukio Mishima, and Harold Pinter.〔Fowler, see play lists in chapter headings〕 Respected as an actor as well as director, Irving played major roles, including Proctor in ''The Crucible'' 〔Hagan, R.H., “Powerful New Drama Enacted With Rare Skill,” ''S.F. Chronicle'', December 8, 1954〕 and Happy in ''Death of a Salesman'' 〔Blau, Herbert, “A Play for Americans,” program note for ''Death of a Salesman,'' February 26, 1954〕 (which he also directed) in the Workshop's productions of Arthur Miller plays. When the Workshop produced the west coast premiere of Beckett's ''Waiting for Godot'', Irving was the loquacious servant, Lucky.〔Blau, “Who is Godot?,” program for ''Waiting for Godot'', February 28, 1957〕 The production played to the Workshop's regular audiences, then performed for inmates at San Quentin prison 〔The Workshop visit had a lasting effect. San Quentin inmates formed a drama club, and Alan Mandell became the group's advisor. In its final season, the Workshop presented a play by ex-inmate Rick Cluchey, The Cage, at the Encore. It toured to New York and elsewhere later. SEE Kaltenheuser, Skip, "The Prison Playwright," ''Gadfly OnLine,'' Sep./Oct. 1999〕〔Atkinson, Brooks, “Theater: ‘Godot’ For Fair,” New York Times, August 6, 1958.〕〔Gleason, Gene, “‘Waiting For Godot’ . . . At the York,” N.Y. Herald Tribune, August 6, 1958〕 and on to the 1958 Brussels World's Fair where it represented American theater under the aegis of the US State Department. The travel to Brussels was not without incident. This was the era of the "Second Red Scare," when America was going through a reactionary review of its image and institutions, and the Workshop found itself caught for a time between the State Department's initial enthusiasm for sponsoring ''Godot'' and a pause when some officials questioned whether this absurdist play of Irish/French origin could truly represent America. Irving was informed that the Workshop would need to fund its own travel to get to Belgium. After weeks of fund-raising and while the company was still in New York, he received word that it would be “inadvisable” for a named stage manager to travel on to Brussels.〔Fowler, 273〕 The opaque State Department left Irving and Blau to speculate while officials would not go on record (this was ''that'' time) that perhaps some liberal activity had brought negative attention down on the respected company member. The Workshop protested this extra-legal pressure, but in the end, feeling a responsibility to San Franciscans who had provided travel funds, proceeded to Brussels without the stage manager.〔Priscilla Pointer replaced the stage manager for the performances at the Fair. Word quickly spread to the media, and ''The San Francisco Examiner'' ran a banner headline on September 15, 1958, "U.S.Ban On S.F. Theater Man," and all other local dailies ran prominent front page stories. See Fowler, ch. XL,259, for detail on "L'Affaire Godot."〕 In addition to his acclaimed abilities as the director of such Workshop productions as ''The Entertainer'', ''Misalliance'', ''The Glass Menagerie'', and ''The Caretaker'', Irving proved his skills as a financial manager over many years, shrewdly learning "by necessity," according to San Francisco writer Mark Harris, "a hundred-and-one uses for the pennies of a dollar."〔Harris, Mark, "Blau & Irving Come Out of the West," ''NY Times'', 02/21/1965,http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive/pdf?res=FB0814FD345B1B728DDDA80A94DA405B858AF1D3〕 In the world of theatrical idealism, chary vigilance is absolutely necessary, as the economics of the performing arts in our time require deficit funding to a greater degree every year.〔http://www.sc.edu/uscpress/books/2010/3907x.pdf〕 Irving always had to struggle to keep the Workshop solvent. In doing so, he protected the company's artistic independence. He was thus extremely cautious in the late '50s when the Ford Foundation offered its hand.〔Fowler, Ch XIII, 342〕 Some scholars note that Irving's life offers a study in artistic morality〔Kaufman, Stanley: http://www.tcrecord.org/Content.asp?ContentId=2283〕〔Stage Left: "ACTFinds its Home in San Francisco," http://stageleft-movie.com/tag/jules-irving/〕 although the "message" of any particular ethical exchange (Workshop v. State Department, Workshop v. Ford, v. Lincoln Center, v. ACT?) may remain unclear. A secular Jew,〔Fowler,17: "Following his Bar Mitzvah, Irving ceased all formal practice of his religion and became, through this default, a member of what he terms 'the lost generation of American Jews' i.e., young Jews unable to believe in the relevance of Judaism’s arcane and ancient rites to modern American life."〕 Irving was honored with the Methodist-oriented Danforth Fellowship early in his professorial career for interests and achievements in "religion and higher education." 〔https://www.stlbeacon.org/#!/content/15834/danforth_foundation_has_ended_its_giving〕 He was not a political person, but an active idealist, a man who sought in many ways, mostly through the theater, to improve the world. In 1957, Irving began interacting with the Ford Foundation. At that time, the Foundation's Humanities and Arts Program offered grants-in-aid to “creative and performing artists,” etc.,〔Fowler, 341〕 and the Workshop stood to benefit. Over time Irving developed a relationship with the Foundation as a consultant who advised fledgling theaters on survival and growth throughout the nation. Of particular note is his travel to Mississippi in the early '60s to work as an advisor to the Free Southern Theater, a racially integrated troupe presenting ''Waiting for Godot'' amid a "beligerant, racist" atmosphere.〔Fowler, 750〕 It is Irving's relationship with the Ford Foundation that also offers important lessons in the ethics and effects of philanthropic intervention in non-profit enterprises within a free market system. Readers interested in such effects-- in the advantages and trade-offs that may occur, the demands that arise among fellow non-included artists, and the ability of a young organization to adapt to powerful new circumstances-- are advised to study the Workshop, especially the years from 1958 on.〔See Fowler, especially chapters XIII (p. 342) through XXI (p. 684)〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「Jules Irving」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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