Bernard Gersten
Executive Producer of Lincoln Center Theater.
Bernard Gersten, Executive Producer of Lincoln Center Theater, takes listeners on a highly condensed tour of his 60-year career in the theatre, including his joining Maurice Evans’ US Army Special Services Unit while stationed on Hawaii during World War II; his subsequent New York debut as assistant stage manager, ensemble member and understudy in Evans’ “G.I.” Hamlet; his years as a stage manager, including the threat to his job at the American Shakespeare Festival in Connecticut after he was called before the infamous House Un-American Activities Committee; how he met and came to work with Joseph Papp at the New York Shakespeare Festival, a tenure that included the construction of the “temporary” Delacorte Theatre, the opening of The Public Theater on Astor Place with the original Hair, and the phenomenal success of A Chorus Line; his work with Frances Ford Coppola on four films, including the oft-discussed but little seen One From the Heart; how he signed on at the inception of Lincoln Center Theater in 1985 when the Vivian Beaumont was thought to be a highly undesirable venue; and his role in the selection of Andre Bishop as LCT’s artistic director upon the departure of Gregory Mosher in 1991.
Original airdate – December 21, 2009.
Running time – 1:12:13.

For more information, to listen online, or to download the episode go to Downstage Center’s Bernard Gersten program page.
You can also download directly the Bernard Gersten program (mp3).
Posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 10:32 am
by
American Theatre Wing
Filed under:
Audio,
Downstage Center,
Producer.
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