The Rep to Honor Late Artistic Director Steven Woolf at Public Memorial
For 33 seasons, from 1986 to 2019, Steven Woolf shepherded more than 300 shows onto the Rep’s stages before retiring in May 2019.
By: Taylor Brethauer-Hamling Sep. 09, 2021
The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis (The Rep) will honor the life and legacy of longtime esteemed artistic director Steven Woolf in a special public memorial, Remembering Steven - Celebrating A Life in the Theatre, on Saturday, October 16, 2021, at 11 a.m. on The Mainstage at the Loretto-Hilton Center.
The Mainstage is located at 130 Edgar Road in Webster Groves.
Wolf died on Monday, July 12 at age 75 after a short illness. The service will also be live streamed for those unable to attend in person. Details on the live stream will be posted on The Rep's website prior to the event.
Seating will be limited, therefore The Rep requests that all attendees RSVP in advance. Those interested in attending may RSVP via Google Form. Out of an abundance of caution, all of The Rep's COVID safety guidelines will be observed. Attendees will need to bring a photo ID as well as proof of vaccination or proof of a negative COVID test.
For 33 seasons, from 1986 to 2019, Steven Woolf shepherded more than 300 shows onto the Rep's stages before retiring in May 2019. Among the shows he directed there were "Oslo," "Admissions," "The Humans," 'Heisenberg," "Constellations," "The Winslow Boy," "Brighton Beach Memoirs," "Red," "The Diary of Anne Frank," "Frost/Nixon," "The History Boys," "The Pillowman," "Humble Boy," "Pirandello's Henry IV," "The Retreat From Moscow," "The Crucible," "The Goat or Who is Sylvia?," "Copenhagen," "ART," "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?," "Death of a Salesman," "As Bees in Honey Drown," "Skylight," "Arcadia," "The Life of Galileo," "The Caine Mutiny Court Martial," "Six Degrees of Separation," "Terra Nova," and "Company."
Repeatedly honored for his dedication to superlative theater, Woolf received the St. Louis Arts Awards for Individual Excellence in the Arts and Lifetime Achievement in the Arts from the Arts and Education Council. The Missouri Citizens for the Arts awarded The Rep its Arts Award for Advocacy and he was among the first recipients of "The Good Guy Award," given by the St. Louis Women's Political Caucus.
Woolf was on the faculty of the Drama Division of The Juilliard School under John Houseman and later served as an adjunct faculty member at Webster University, where he taught in Webster University's Conservatory of Theatre Arts. Locally, he also directed for the Conservatory and The New Jewish Theatre. Woolf also directed shows at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park, Great Lakes Theatre Festival in Cleveland, the Totem Pole Playhouse in Pennsylvania, The Lyceum Theatre in Arrow Rock, Mo, and at many other theaters around the country.
While living in New York, he directed Off-Off-Broadway and worked on The Acting Company's Broadway season at the Billy Rose Theatre. Stock work took him to the Lakewood Musical Playhouse and the Ivoryton and Cecilwood Theatres. He also held long-term residencies at the world-famous Barter Theatre in Abingdon, Va., and at StageWest in Springfield, Mass.
He served as a panelist and an on-site evaluator for the theater program for the National Endowment for the Arts and served on the advisory panel for the Regional Arts Commission and the ad hoc committees for program assistance and touring for the Missouri Arts Council. Woolf also served on the executive committee and the national negotiating committee for the League of Resident Theatres, as well as on the board of Missouri Citizens for the Arts, and he was a trustee of the IATSE Local #6 health fund. He served on the board of the Kevin Kline Awards.
Woolf received his B.A. in theater and M.F.A. in directing from the University of Wisconsin at Madison and was awarded an honorary doctorate by the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He is one of the first recipients of Webster University's Declaration of Merit.
He is survived by a brother, Tom Woolf, who lives in Tampa, Florida.
About The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis
The Rep is the St. Louis region's most honored live professional theatre company. Founded in 1966, The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis is a fully professional theatrical operation belonging to the League of Resident Theatres, The League of St. Louis Theatres and is a constituent member of Theatre Communications Group, Inc., the national service organization for the not-for-profit professional theatre. Visit www.repstl.org for more, and find The Rep on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and YouTube.
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