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Ella Gerber Biography (1916-)

Addresses: Home: 329 E. 58th Street, New York, NY, 10022.

Nationality

American

Occupation

director, actress, playwright, teacher

Birth Details

August 25, 1916

New York, New York

Famous Works

• Debut
• appeared in Off-Broadway productions with the Knickerbocker Players, Playmart, Davenport Theatre, Theatre Collective, 1933-36.
• Principal Stage Appearances
• Appeared in Just Married, Up Pops the Devil, Hardy Family, and The Ferguson Family, Lippitt Players, Cumberland Hills, RI, 1936; lead, Pins and Needles, Labor Stage Theatre, NY, and U.S. and Canadian tour,1938-41; Marguerite, The End of the World, Geary, San Francisco, CA, 1945; Mother, Psalm for Fat Tuesdays, New Dramatists, NY, 1957; Emily,Inside Emily Payne, Erie Playhouse, Erie, PA, 1959; Yvonne, The Laundry, Gate, NY, 1962.
• Major Tours
• Theatre Brief (collection of scenes), Michael and Mary, Winterset, Private Lives, Dead End, Idiot's Delight, Our Town, Craig's Wife, New York, Chicago and Hollywood, 1941; Lunch Hour Follies, American Theatre Wing tour to war plants in the East, 1943; Violet, My Sister Eileen, U.S. Army Special Services tour, Japan, 1946; Martha, Dear Ruth, U.S.O. tour, Korea, 1946; Laura, The Glass Menagerie, U.S. Army Special Services tour, University of Hawaii, Honolulu, Hawii, 1946; Julia, Goodbye Again, U.S. Army Special Services tour, Japan, 1947.
• Principal Film Appearances
• Barabbas, 1961; Beat Street, 1984.
• Principal Television Appearances
• Divorce Court, 1969.
• Principal Stage Work, Director
• Productions at Los Angeles Community Centers, Actors Community Theatre, Hollywood, CA, and for U.S. Army Special Servies production of the Lunch Hour Follies, 1943-45; Blind Alley, Hollywood, CA, 1945; GoodbyeAgain, Room Service, Dear Ruth, My Sister Eileen, U.S. Army Special Services, Hawaii, Japan, Korea, 1946-47; stock productions at Fairhaven, MA, 1949;Dark of the Moon, Equity Library Theatre, NY, 1949; My Sister Eileen, Summer and Smoke, La Petite Théâtre du Vieux Carré, New Orleans, LA, 1950; stock productions, Watkins Glen, NY, 1950; Homecoming, Theatre 108, NY, 1950; Primrose Path, Equity Library Theatre, NY, 1950; Design for a Stained Glass Window, Wilbur Theatre, Boston, MA, Brooks Atkinson, NY, 1950; Dark of the Moon, The Glass Menagerie, Youngstown Playhouse, Youngstown, OH, 1951; stock productions at Corning Summer Theatre, Corning, NY, 1951; All God's Chillun Got Wings, O Distant Land, Equity Library Theatre, NY, Lenox Hill Playhouse, NY, 1952; Porgy and Bess, Ziegfeld Theatre and international tour, 1952-55; stock productions at Lakewood Summer Playhouse, Barnesville, PA, 1956; The Reluctant Debutante, Rain, Janus, Picnic, Anniversary Waltz, Peabody Summer Theatre, Daytona Beach, FL, 1957; Candida, Harvey, Ah! Wilderness, They Came toa City, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY, 1958; Flight into Egypt, Dial M for Murder, Equity Library Theatre, 1958; Showboat, Oakdale Music Theatre, Wallingford, CT, 1958; Oh Captain, Oakdale Music Theatre, Warwick Music Theatre, RI, 1958; Porgy and Bess, Musicarnival,Cleveland, OH, 1958; Porgy and Bess, Warwick Music Theatre, RI, Oakdale Music Theatre, CT, Carousel Theatre, Framingham, MA, Music Fair, Toronto, Ontario, Canada, Melody Fair, Buffalo, NY, Westbury Music Fair, Westbury, LI,Camden County Music Fair, Haddonfield, NJ, Valley Forge Music Fair, Devon, PA, Civic Light Opera Co., Pittsburgh, PA, 1958; Most Happy Fella, Carousel, MA, 1959; stock productions at Oakdale Music, Warwick Music, Colonie Music, RI, CT, NY, 1959; Dark of the Moon, Acorn Civic, Miami Beach, FL,1960; Look Homeward, Angel, Youngstown Playhouse, OH, 1960; Blue Island, New Dramatists, NY, 1960; stock productions at Oakdale Music, CT, and Warwick Music, RI, 1960; Skylark, Drury Lane, Chicago, IL, 1961;
• Dark of the Moon, Teatro dei Servi, Rome, Italy, 1961; Tiger Rag, Cherry Lane, NY, 1961; Come Blow Your Horn, Golonka GladiatorsArena, Totowa, NJ, 1962; Gypsy, East Coast tour, 1962; Come Blow Your Horn, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami, FL, 1962; Guys and Dolls,Gladiators Arena, Totowa, NJ, 1963; Kiss Me Kate, East Coast tour, 1963; Porgy and Bess, St. Louis Municipal Opera, MO, Starlight Opera, Kansas City, MO, 1964; Clowns, The Desperate Hours, Youngstown Playhouse, OH, 1964; Gypsy, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Miami, FL, 1965-66; Porgy and Bess, International tour and U.S. tour, 1965-66; Clearing in the Woods, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY, 1966; Camelot, East Coast tour, 1966; Porgy and Bess, Habimah National, Tel Aviv, Israeland tour throughout country, 1966; The Little Foxes, American Academyof Dramatic Arts, 1967; Porgy and Bess, U.S. college tour and Canadian tour, 1967; Holy Hang-Up, Spencer Memorial Church, NY, 1968; PeerGynt, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, 1968; Lost in the Stars, Equity Library Theatre, NY, 1968;
• Carousel, Johannesburg Operatic and Dramatic Society, South Africa, 1968; excerpts from The Consul, The Telephone, Porgy and Bess, London Opera Centre, London, England, 1968; The Miser, Theatre Nashville, Vanderbilt University, TN, 1969; You Can't Take It with You, See How They Run, Youngstown Playhouse, OH, 1969; Muzeeka, The Private Ear, UsedCar for Sale, The Boor, The Man with the Flower in His Mouth, The Marriage Proposal, an Arts/Six-Title III Project, Brookline, Waltham and Belmont, MA, 1969; Hallelujah Train, U.S. university and college tour, 1969; Porgy and Bess, South Carolina Tricentennial Celebration Production, Charleston, SC, 1970; School for Wives, Summertree, Wayside Theatre, Middletown, VA, 1971; Porgy and Bess, Memphis Opera Company, Casa Manana, Fort Worth TX, 1971; Madwoman of Chaillot, Duke University, NC, 1972; Porgy and Bess, Teatro Nacional de San Carlos, Lisbon, Portugal, 1973;The Flying Doctor, The Marriage Proposal, The Lovers, Chinamen, SouthCarolina Open Road Ensemble, Columbia, SC and tour throughout SC, 1973; Porgy and Bess, Los Angeles Civic Light Opera Company, Los Angeles, CA, Theatre of the Stars, Atlanta, GA, 1974;
• Bicycle Riders, Directors/Playwrights Workshop, Actors Studio, NY,1975; Porgy and Bess, Michigan Opera Theatre, Detroit, MI, Universityof Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI, 1975; Teach Me How to Cry, Charley's Aunt, The Richest Woman in Town, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, 1976; The Crucible, St. Lawrence University, Canton, NY, 1976; The Skin of Our Teeth, Gnadiges Fraulein, I Can't Imagine Tomorrow, The UnsatisfactorySupper, At Liberty, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 1977; The Children's Hour, Harvard University, Cambridge, MA, 1978; A Thread of Scarlet, Encompass, NY, 1978; The Lady from the Sea, Hollins College, Hollins, VA, 1979; An Evening of One Acts, Lynn Canal Community Players, Haines, AK, 1980; The Three Sisters, Valley Performing Arts, Colony Theatre, Palmer, AK, 1980; A Doll's House, Fairbanks Drama Association, Fairbanks, AK, 1980; Porgy and Bess, University of Utah, Salt Lake City, 1981; adjudicator, Festival of American Community Theatres, Haines, AK, 1983.
• Plays, Produced
• Co-author, co-adaptor with Howard Richardson, Thread of Scarlet, Juneau-Douglas Little Theatre, Juneau, AK, 1977, Theatre Tulsa, OK, 1978, Encompass, NY, 1978; Glory for Me, Durham Theatre Guild and City Acting Company, NC, 1977.
• Plays, Unproduced
• Alexandra, Idols and the Prey, Desire and Disarray.
• Teleplays
• Aftermath of a Conviction.
• Theatre-Related Career
• Lecturer: "Acting Technique," Spelman College, Atlanta, GA; "Theatre Techniques: Theory and Practice," London Opera Centre, London, England, Stage Studio, Washington, DC, Hamline University, St. Paul, MN; "Theatre in Iron Curtain Countries," Columbia University, Quota Club, Youngstown, OH, Youngstown Playhouse, OH; "The Arts in Education: Confrontation of the Arts," Smoky Mountain Cultural Arts Foundation, Western Carolina University, Cullowhee, NC; "Women in the Arts," Goucher College, Baltimore, MD; conducted acting classes forprivate schools, community theatres, summer camps, settlement houses, NY, ME, and PA, 1935-43; private class work, Studio of the Theatre, Hollywood, CA,1947-48; acting/directing seminars, Acorn Civic Theatre, Miami Beach, FL, 1962; acting/directing seminars, Youngstown Playhouse, OH, 1963; faculty, American Academy of Dramatic Arts, NY, 1957-59 and 1966-67; faculty, American Musical and Dramatic Academy, NY, 1967-68; guest faculty, London Opera Centre, 1968; Arts/Six, Title III project, MA, 1969-72; acting seminars, S.C.O.R.E., South Carolina and Washington, DC, 1973; acting seminars, Waltham, MA, 1971-76;faculty, East Carolina University, Greenville, NC, 1977; acting and directingseminars, Fairbanks, Palmer, Skagway and Haines, AK, 1980; acting and directing seminars, Women-in-Theatre, NY, 1984; private acting coach, NY, and CA, presently.