John Seitz, Actor and Theater Advocate, Dies at 67

John Seitz, who appeared in more than 300 plays during his 40-year career, died in Baltimore on July 4 of congestive heart failure at the age of 67.

The actor won Obie Awards for his performances in Maria Irene Fornes’ Abingdon Square (1988) and Carl Hancock Rux’s Talk (2001). His Broadway credits include Harold Pinter’s No Man’s Land (with Jason Robards and Christopher Plummer), Arnold Wesker’s The Merchant, and Victor Gialanella’s Frankenstein.

Seitz appeared in numerous plays Off-Broadway, including the Public Theater productions of Machinal, Casanova, and Talk. He also played the title role in Richard Foreman’s staging of Moliere’s Don Juan. Other highlights of his career included the CSC productions of Krapp’s Last Tape and The Merchant of Venice, the BAM Repertory Company’s staging of Gorky’s Barbarians, and revivals of Samuel Beckett’s Endgame and Sam Shepard’s Fool for Love.

A lifetime supporter of emerging artists and not-for-profit theater, Seitz received the New Dramatists’ Charles Bowden Award in 1997 and the Spencer Cherashore award in 2002 for his work in these areas. Recently, he developed the New Harmony (Indiana) Project and a play project at Robert Redford’s Sundance Institute. In the interest of bridging post-Cold War cultural understanding, he worked extensively with Russian artists in the U.S. and abroad as a participant in the Russian/U.S. Foundation for Mutual Trust.

He is survived by a daughter, Becca Seitz, of Baltimore, Maryland; a granddaughter, Genevieve Grace Schuh, also of Baltimore; and two sisters, Lillie Hutto of Spring Hill, Florida and Nora Manning of Louisville, Kentucky.