Theater Professor and Director Jack Allison Has Died
(© Christopher Rolinson)
John M. "Jack" Allison, a theater teacher and director in the United States, Canada, and Europe, died June 16 at the age of 78 in East Northport, New York.
Born in Bayonne, New Jersey, Allison graduated from New Jersey City University with a BA in American Literature and History before earning an MA in Speech and Drama from the Catholic University of America, and a PhD (ABD) in Theatre and Directing from the University of Denver.
Allison served as the resident director at the Pittsburgh Civic Light Opera Company where he staged over 30 productions. He also directed at most of the major regional theaters in the United States, Canada, and Europe including the Walnut Street Theater, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Cincinnati Opera and the North Shore Music Theatre. In New York he staged acclaimed productions at the Manhattan Theatre Club and the Circle Repertory Company, and he premiered Cabaret at the National Theatre of Belgium. Allison was the recipient of three Florida Carbonell Awards and three Boston Globe Best of Season Awards.
From 1993 until 2003 Allison was a Professor at New York University's Steinhardt School of Performing Arts where he developed the Musical Theatre program's acting sequence and directed Assassins, From May to December: Kurt Weill and Lotte Lenya (developed under the supervision of the Kurt Weill Foundation), and Life Is Like a Musical Comedy: George M. Cohan. In 2002 and 2003 he added and devised a new concentration in Musical Theatre and Voice at Five Towns College and later that year joined Point Park University – Conservatory of the Performing Arts.
Allisons brother Robert "Buddy" Allison Sr. predeceased him. He is survived by his child Kristen Allison and sibling Patricia Ann Allison.
