Josephine Abady
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Josephine Abady | |
|---|---|
| Born | August 21, 1949 |
| Died | May 25, 2002 (aged 52) New York City, US |
| Alma mater | Syracuse University (BA) Florida State University (MFA) |
| Family | Caroline Aaron (sister) |
Josephine R. "Josie" Abady was an American stage director, film director, and producer.
Early life and education[]
Abady was born in New York. Her mother Nina Abady (née Friedman) was a civil rights activist and Alabama-born of Mizrahi Jewish () descent who worked full time to support her three kids after Aaron’s father who was of Sephardic Jewish (Lebanese-Jewish) descent, and passed away.[1][2] Her sister is actress Caroline Aaron.
Abady graduated from Syracuse University and earned her MFA from Florida State University.
Theatrical career[]
Abady taught theater at Bennington College and was head of the theater program at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts before she began her professional career as the artistic director of the Berkshire Theater Festival (in Stockbridge, Massachusetts). She opened the season at the Cleveland Play House with a revival of Born Yesterday, starring Ed Asner and Madeline Kahn, a production that moved to Broadway.
Film and TV work[]
Abady also did film and TV work, including, with the assistance provided by an American Film Institute grant, To Catch a Tiger, a short film inspired by the life of Nina Friedman Abady, Abady's own mother.
She later co-produced a TV remake of A Raisin in the Sun, which starred Esther Rolle and Danny Glover.[3][4]
Last years[]
Despite her advanced breast cancer, she was active during the last years of her life, until her death, at her home in Manhattan, aged 52.[5]
Affiliations[]
- Member, League of Professional Theatre Women[6]
References[]
- ^ "Caroline Aaron on Playing Shirley Maisel: She's a Liberated Woman for the Times". 5 December 2019.
- ^ Pfefferman, Naomi (September 29, 2005). "Interview with Jewish Journal". Jewishjournal.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
- ^ "Josie Abady, Director of Cleveland Playhouse and Circle in the Square…". archive.ph. 2013-01-31. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ "American Playhouse" episode: "A Raisin in the Sun" at Internet Movie Database
- ^ Gussow, Mel (2002-05-30). "Josephine Abady, 52, Director Of Plays on and Off Broadway". The New York Times. ISSN 0362-4331. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
- ^ League of Professional Theatre Women: The Josephine Abady Award Retrieved January 25, 2013
External links[]
- 1949 births
- 2002 deaths
- American theatre directors
- Women theatre directors
- American theatre managers and producers
- American people of Hungarian-Jewish descent
- American people of Lebanese-Jewish descent
- Artists from Richmond, Virginia
- American Ashkenazi Jews
- Deaths from cancer in New York (state)
- Deaths from breast cancer
- Florida State University alumni
- American Mizrahi Jews
- People from Stockbridge, Massachusetts
- People from Manhattan
- American Sephardic Jews
- Syracuse University College of Visual and Performing Arts alumni