Robert Brustein, a Staunch Advocate for Nonprofit Theaters, Dies at 96

Robert Brustein, whose wide-ranging career made him one of the most influential and controversial forces in American theater, died yesterday at his home in Cambridge, Massachusetts. He was 96.

Brustein was born in Brooklyn, New York, on April 21, 1927. He attended Amherst College, and later received his MA and PhD from Columbia University, where he taught during the 1950s and ’60s while at the same time reviewing theater for The New Republic. He became dean of the Yale School of Drama in 1966 and quickly established the Yale Repertory Theatre with an aim to producing edgy works by new authors as well as nontraditional productions of classics.

As a writer, critic, and director, Brustein often courted controversy and outright displeasure with his iconoclastic approach to theater. After founding American Repertory Theater at Harvard University in the 1980s, Brustein went toe to toe with Samuel Beckett over changes to Endgame that did not conform to Beckett’s exacting directions. Brustein also raised hackles with comments regarding August Wilson and his work as well as colorblind casting and other subjects relating to race in the theater, leading to a public debate between Brustein and Wilson in 1997 at Town Hall in New York.

Throughout his career, which also included writing dozens of plays and books, Brustein remained a staunch believer that theater in its most authentic form was being destroyed by commercialism and profit. As artistic director at Yale Repertory and A.R.T., he strove to produce challenging works without regard for their money-making potential. He was largely successful in his efforts up to his retirement from A.R.T. in 2002, though in later years he saw the gradual decline of regional theaters as they embraced profit over artistic integrity.

Brustein is survived by his wife, Doreen Beinart, and his son, Daniel.