In 1950, Zelda Fichandler founded Arena Stage with her George Washington University theatre professor Edward Mangum. After he left the enterprise in 1952, Zelda, who had little theatrical experience or training at the time, took charge and guided Arena as its Artistic Director for the next 40 years, transforming this college experiment into one of the flagships of America’s theatrical world.
Mary B. Robinson chronicles this remarkable person in her recently published oral history biography, To Repair the World: Zelda Fichandler and the Transformation of American Theater.
Mary B. Robinson headed an undergraduate directing program at New York University from 1999–2014. She has directed 70 productions at non-profit theaters like Arena Stage, Manhattan Theatre Club, Second Stage, and Seattle Repertory Company. She was one of 50 directors (along with Zelda Fichandler) featured in American Women Stage Directors of the Twentieth Century. She is also the author of Directing Plays, Directing People: A Collaborative Art, published by Smith & Kraus in 2012.
For more information about Mary B. Robinson click here. For more about Zelda Fichandler click here.
For a link to Mary’s To Repair the World: Zelda Fichandler and the Transformation of American Theater.
For Zelda Fichandler’s new book of theatre essays, The Long Revolution: Sixty Years on the Frontlines of a New American Theater.
For Michael’s review of To Repair the World.
For part 1 of this interview click here.
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An Innovators, Artists & Solutions Podcast: Part 2 of our Conversation with Mary B. Robinson, Author of the new oral history biography of Arena Stage Co-Founder Zelda Fichandler