Josephine Abady

Josephine R. "Josie" Abady was an American stage director, film director, and producer.

Josephine Abady
BornAugust 21, 1949
Richmond, Virginia, US
DiedMay 25, 2002 (aged 52)
New York City, US
Alma materSyracuse University (B.A)
Florida State University (MFA)
FamilyCaroline Aaron (sister)

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 Ashkenazi Jewish (Hungarian-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
  1. https://jewishjournal.com/culture/arts/308046/caroline-aaron-on-playing-shirley-maisel-shes-a-liberated-woman-for-the-times/
  2. Pfefferman, Naomi (September 29, 2005). "Interview with Jewish Journal". Jewishjournal.com. Archived from the original on February 1, 2016. Retrieved September 8, 2010.
  3. Josephine Abady obituary @ Playbill.com
  4. "American Playhouse" episode: "A Raisin in the Sun" at Internet Movie Database
  5. New York Times obituary
  6. League of Professional Theatre Women: The Josephine Abady Award Retrieved January 25, 2013
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is licensed under Creative Commons - Attribution - Sharealike. Additional terms may apply for the media files.