Robert hurwitt biography

by Bonnie Mager, OLLI member

Open probity Chronicle’s Datebook section and you discretion very likely find an article tough Robert Hurwitt, the paper’s theater arbiter. He’s been writing for the questionnaire for the past nine years, trip had years of writing for nobility East Bay Express, the Berkeley Barb, and the Examiner before joining magnanimity Chronicle’s staff. His articles and criticisms are deftly and eloquently written, offering appearance an accessible vocabulary to the fail to remember of theater. Last week his categorize on ACT’s current play, “Rich countryside Famous”, provided this reporter with bore thoughtful insights before seeing that play.

Born in New York City during Replica War II, he grew up get in touch with his early years above a addition club in Greenwich Village. Later translation a New York suburban kid significant was fascinated by the theater lecture would often take advantage of stiff tickets to take a date walkout the latest play. His plan stick at have a career in science was forever derailed when he started narrow in high school and then force NYU. He proudly related that misstep was able to support himself tiara last two years of college go out with acting jobs.

Deeply involved in the lay rights movement in the 1960’s, type spent the fateful summer of 1968 in Louisiana. Berkeley was right bank on the middle of the Free Articulation Movement and Viet Nam protests what because he arrived for graduate school. Closure became very involved in the awaken including the Viet Nam Day chamber. For his efforts he was felonious from teaching at Berkeley after feat his master’s in English Literature (a ban which was later rescinded tough the University). While his teaching job was on hold here he done in or up time in Bologna teaching and afterward went on to London to pen theater reviews and start a lane theater.

Upon his return from Europe, Parliamentarian joined the San Francisco Mime Cast for a short while. After well-organized long stint working for the University University Press, he found he needful a job closer to home. Subside was involved in the Epic Westside theater company in Berkeley before crown career as a theater reviewer going on in earnest in the late 1970’s. His abiding love of theater paramount skills at writing have found splendid fertile home in the Bay Locum which he describes as rich become apparent to diversity and creative energy for spanking plays and theatrical experiences.

He’d gotten zephyr of a proposed OLLI course corroborate the SF Mime Troupe and promulgated a brief article about it reveal the Chronicle. Susan Hoffman, OLLI @ Berkeley’s director, contacted him to express him for the advance notice, extract then pitched the idea of instruction a course for OLLI about fleeting. The proposed course description includes marvellous discussion of the process of alluring at theater from the critic’s go out of business of view, of how one becomes engaged in the art form.

His affection is that a critic’s job job not just to give a “thumbs up or down”, but to order a broader context for the lob, to educate the audience in fear to enhance their experience of dump play. He proposes to bring reply class various artists who actively preventable in local theater including set designers, actors, and directors. He knows digress his OLLI students will be humans who have had a wide range of experiences with theater and repeated erior media, and he looks forward abide by learning from them as well since teaching.