Herbert Blau

Herbert Blau
Name	Herbert Blau
Birth date	1926-02-04
Birth place	New York City
Death date	2013-04-02
Death place	Santa Cruz, California
Occupation	Theatre director, dramaturg, academic
Notable works	Theatrewritings, A Grammar of Creation, The Audience

Herbert Blau (1926–2013) was an influential theatre director, dramaturg, and academic known for avant-garde productions, interdisciplinary scholarship, and critical writing that bridged modernist performance, continental philosophy, and postwar American theatre practice. His work as co-founder of the Poet's Theatre and the Judson Poets Theatre-adjacent experimental scene and his later roles at institutions such as the University of California, Irvine and the University of California, Santa Cruz shaped generations of practitioners and scholars across New York City, London, and the United States.

Early life and education

Blau was born in New York City and raised in a milieu connected to Brooklyn and the broader cultural life of New York State. He completed undergraduate studies at Rutgers University and pursued graduate work at Yale University and the University of Oxford, where he encountered texts by Samuel Beckett, Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, Jean Genet, and Eugène Ionesco. His early formation was shaped by the postwar intellectual currents represented by figures such as Theodor W. Adorno, Maurice Merleau-Ponty, Martin Heidegger, Jacques Derrida, and Michel Foucault, as well as by exposure to performance practices linked to Jerzy Grotowski, Peter Brook, Tadeusz Kantor, and Ellen Stewart.

Theatre career and directorial work

Blau co-founded the Poet's Theatre and worked in close relation to the experimental circles around the New York School and the Off-Broadway milieu, producing works by Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, Harold Pinter, and Edward Albee. His directing combined the influences of Bertolt Brecht, Antonin Artaud, and Jerzy Grotowski with a rigorous textual analysis akin to the methods of Stanislavski-influenced practitioners and the iconoclastic staging of Peter Brook. Blau staged controversial and seminal productions that drew attention from critics at The New York Times, The Guardian, and The Observer, and he engaged with institutions such as Lincoln Center and experimental venues in SoHo and Greenwich Village.

Academic career and teaching

Blau held faculty positions at institutions including the University of California, Irvine, the University of California, Santa Cruz, and guest posts at Harvard University, Columbia University, University of California, Berkeley, and Princeton University. He taught alongside scholars and practitioners associated with Richard Schechner, Jerzy Grotowski, Eugene Lang College, and interdisciplinary programs linked to comparative literature and performance studies. His pedagogical impact extended through graduate mentorship in departments connected to the Modern Language Association-influenced curricula and to performance research networks such as the Association for Theatre in Higher Education.

Writings and critical theory

Blau authored books and essays including collections like Theatrewritings and A Grammar of Creation, developing critical perspectives informed by Martin Heidegger, Theodor W. Adorno, Jacques Derrida, Roland Barthes, and Walter Benjamin. His writing engaged with dramatic texts by Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Jean Genet, and Harold Pinter, while dialoguing with contemporary critics such as Fredric Jameson, Harold Bloom, Frank Kermode, and Lionel Trilling. Blau's theoretical work connected to debates in structuralism, post-structuralism, and phenomenology, and his essays appeared alongside journals and presses associated with Cambridge University Press, Routledge, and the University of California Press.

Collaborations and productions

Across his career Blau collaborated with a wide range of artists and institutions including John Guare, Joseph Chaikin, Richard Foreman, Edward Albee, Susan Sontag, Allan Kaprow, Merce Cunningham, John Cage, Marina Abramović, Pamela Allen, Ralph Lee, and designers connected to Rebekah Harkness. He mounted productions in partnership with companies and venues such as Royal Court Theatre, Royal Shakespeare Company, Public Theater, Judson Memorial Church, Brooklyn Academy of Music, and The Kitchen. Blau's collaborative practice intersected with movements and events including Fluxus, Happenings, the Off-Off-Broadway renaissance, and European avant-garde festivals in Edinburgh Festival, Venice Biennale, and Avignon Festival.

Awards and legacy

Recognition for Blau's work came in the form of honors and fellowships from organizations such as the Guggenheim Foundation, the National Endowment for the Arts, and academic prizes linked to Harvard University and the University of California. His influence is evident in the careers of directors and scholars associated with Richard Schechner, Anne Bogart, Janet Cardiff, Liz Lerman, Peter Sellars, Ariane Mnouchkine, and numerous faculty and alumni from UCI and UCSC. Blau's archive, preserved in institutional collections and cited in scholarship at Yale University Library, Library of Congress, and university special collections, continues to inform studies in theatre studies, performance studies, dramaturgy, and contemporary practice.

Category:American theatre directors Category:1926 births Category:2013 deaths