Lyle Kessler
Encyclopedia
Lyle Kessler is an American playwright, screenwriter and actor, best known internationally for Orphans
, the play he wrote in 1983.
, appearing opposite Bruce Dern
. He has subsequently appeared in several films, including James Dean
(portraying Lee Strasberg
, under whom he had studied at the Actors Studio
).
and was accepted into the Director's Unit of the Actors Studio
, where he wrote and directed his first one act play, The Viewing, which he subsequently directed at the Lucille Lortel Theater
in New York.
, and Orphans
.
The Watering Place (written in 1969) premiered on Broadway starring Shirley Knight
and William Devane
.
Orphans (1983) was directed by Gary Sinise
and opened at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre before starting its successful Broadway run. Albert Finney
won the Olivier Award for his performance in the London West End production of Orphans.
Kessler's other plays include:
Kessler was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation
Playwriting Grant for his play The Watering Place and won the New York State Council on the Arts
Playwriting Award for his play Burning Bright.
His plays have been published by Random House
, Grove Press
and Samuel French Inc.
.
, the film version of Orphans starred Matthew Modine
and Albert Finney
.
He has also written:
, are founders of the Imagination Workshop located at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute. This workshop brings together actors, writers and directors who create scenes and original plays to be performed by psychiatric patients, veterans and "at risk" students in the L.A Public Schools. In 1998 they won the Ovation Award "for their excellence in using theatre to impact and involve a community."
Kessler and Mark Rydell
co-moderate the Writer/Directors Unit of the Actors Studio
West. Kessler served as the Director of the Sundance Screenwriter's Lab
. He also participated in the Sundance Screenwriters Conference in Hungary, working with writers from all over Eastern Europe.
and director Mark Rydell
, have teamed up to produce an education seminar, the Total Picture Seminar
, a two-day event covering the disciplines of acting, directing and writing for film.
Orphans (Lyle Kessler play)
Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 at the in Los Angeles starring Joe Pantoliano, Lane Smith and Paul Leiber, where it received critical and commercial success and won the Drama-Logue Award....
, the play he wrote in 1983.
Actor
Kessler began his career as an actor. His first professional appearance was in the Philadelphia premiere of the play Waiting for GodotWaiting for Godot
Waiting for Godot is an absurdist play by Samuel Beckett, in which two characters, Vladimir and Estragon, wait endlessly and in vain for someone named Godot to arrive. Godot's absence, as well as numerous other aspects of the play, have led to many different interpretations since the play's...
, appearing opposite Bruce Dern
Bruce Dern
Bruce MacLeish Dern is an American film actor. He also appeared as a guest star in numerous television shows. He frequently takes roles as a character actor, often playing unstable and villainous characters...
. He has subsequently appeared in several films, including James Dean
James Dean (film)
James Dean is a 2001 biographical television film based on the life of the American actor of the same name. James Franco plays James Dean under the direction of Mark Rydell, who chronicles Dean's rise from a struggling actor to an A-list movie star in 1950s Hollywood...
(portraying Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
, under whom he had studied at the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
).
Writer and director
Kessler studied acting with Lee StrasbergLee Strasberg
Lee Strasberg was an American actor, director and acting teacher. He cofounded, with directors Harold Clurman and Cheryl Crawford, the Group Theatre in 1931, which was hailed as "America's first true theatrical collective"...
and was accepted into the Director's Unit of the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
, where he wrote and directed his first one act play, The Viewing, which he subsequently directed at the Lucille Lortel Theater
Lucille Lortel Theatre
The Lucille Lortel Theatre is an off-Broadway playhouse located at 121 Christopher Street in New York City's Greenwich Village.The venue was built in 1926 as a 590-seat movie theater called the New Hudson, later known as Hudson Playhouse...
in New York.
Playwright
Kessler's most well known plays include his first full length work, The Watering PlaceThe Watering Place
The Watering Place is a play written by Lyle Kessler. His first full length, it debuted on Broadway, starring Shirley Knight and William Devane...
, and Orphans
Orphans (Lyle Kessler play)
Orphans is a play by Lyle Kessler. It premiered in 1983 at the in Los Angeles starring Joe Pantoliano, Lane Smith and Paul Leiber, where it received critical and commercial success and won the Drama-Logue Award....
.
The Watering Place (written in 1969) premiered on Broadway starring Shirley Knight
Shirley Knight
Shirley Enola Knight is an American stage, film and television actress. She has been nominated twice for the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress, in 1960 for The Dark at the Top of the Stairs and in 1962 for Sweet Bird of Youth....
and William Devane
William Devane
William Joseph Devane is an American film, television and theater actor.-Life and career:Devane was born in Albany, New York in 1937 or 1939 , the son of Joseph Devane, who was Franklin D. Roosevelt's chauffeur when he was Governor of New York...
.
Orphans (1983) was directed by Gary Sinise
Gary Sinise
Gary Alan Sinise is an American actor, film director and musician. During his career, Sinise has won various awards including an Emmy and a Golden Globe Award and was nominated for an Academy Award. In 1992, Sinise directed, and played the role of George Milton in the successful film adaptation of...
and opened at Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre before starting its successful Broadway run. Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
won the Olivier Award for his performance in the London West End production of Orphans.
Kessler's other plays include:
- Robbers (1987) which has been performed at the Long Wharf TheatreLong Wharf TheatreLong Wharf Theatre is a nonprofit institution in New Haven, Connecticut, a pioneer in the not-for-profit regional theatre movement, the originator of several prominent plays, and a venue where many internationally known actors have appeared....
in New Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven, ConnecticutNew Haven is the second-largest city in Connecticut and the sixth-largest in New England. According to the 2010 Census, New Haven's population increased by 5.0% between 2000 and 2010, a rate higher than that of the State of Connecticut, and higher than that of the state's five largest cities, and...
starring Judd HirschJudd HirschJudd Hirsch is an American actor most known for playing Alex Rieger on the television comedy series Taxi, John Lacey on the NBC series Dear John, and Alan Eppes on the CBS series Numb3rs.-Early life and education:... - PossessionPossession (play)Possession is a play by Lyle Kessler. It was directed by James Hammerstein at the Ensemble Studio Theatre on March 25, 1976 .It was included in "The Best Plays of 1975-1976" by Otis Guernsey...
(1976) which was premiered by the Ensemble Studio Theatre, directed by James HammersteinJames HammersteinJames Hammerstein was an American theatre director and producer. He was the son of Oscar Hammerstein II and his wife Dorothy ....
. - Unlisted which was performed at the Tiffany Theatre in Los Angeles starring Charles RobinsonCharles Robinson (actor)Charles "Charlie" Robinson is a critically acclaimed American theater and television actor. He is best known for his role as Mac Robinson in the NBC sitcom Night Court...
. - Burning Bright
- The Family Circle
- The Engagement
- The Viewing
Kessler was awarded a Rockefeller Foundation
Rockefeller Foundation
The Rockefeller Foundation is a prominent philanthropic organization and private foundation based at 420 Fifth Avenue, New York City. The preeminent institution established by the six-generation Rockefeller family, it was founded by John D. Rockefeller , along with his son John D. Rockefeller, Jr...
Playwriting Grant for his play The Watering Place and won the New York State Council on the Arts
New York State Council on the Arts
The New York State Council on the Arts is an arts council serving the U.S. state of New York. It was established in 1960 through a bill introduced in the New York State Legislature by New York State Senator MacNeil Mitchell , with backing from Governor Nelson Rockefeller, and began its work in 1961...
Playwriting Award for his play Burning Bright.
His plays have been published by Random House
Random House
Random House, Inc. is the largest general-interest trade book publisher in the world. It has been owned since 1998 by the German private media corporation Bertelsmann and has become the umbrella brand for Bertelsmann book publishing. Random House also has a movie production arm, Random House Films,...
, Grove Press
Grove Press
Grove Press is an American publishing imprint that was founded in 1951. Imprints include: Black Cat, Evergreen, Venus Library, Zebra. Barney Rosset purchased the company in 1951 and turned it into an alternative book press in the United States. The Atlantic Monthly Press, under the aegis of its...
and Samuel French Inc.
Samuel French Inc.
Samuel French, Inc. is an American company, founded by Samuel French and Thomas Hailes Lacy, who formed a partnership to combine their existing interests in London and New York...
.
Films
Kessler's play Orphans has been made into a film of the same name. Directed by Alan J. PakulaAlan J. Pakula
Alan Jay Pakula was an American film director, writer and producer noted for his contributions to the conspiracy thriller genre.-Career:...
, the film version of Orphans starred Matthew Modine
Matthew Modine
Matthew Avery Modine is an award-winning American actor. His film roles include Private Joker in Stanley Kubrick's Full Metal Jacket, the title character in Alan Parker's Birdy, high school wrestler Louden Swain in Vision Quest, football star turned spy Alec McCall in Funky Monkey and the...
and Albert Finney
Albert Finney
Albert Finney is an English actor. He achieved prominence in films in the early 1960s, and has maintained a successful career in theatre, film and television....
.
He has also written:
- The Saint of Fort Washington, for which he was executive producer.
- GladiatorGladiator (1992 film)Gladiator is a 1992 sport film, directed by Rowdy Herrington, and starring Cuba Gooding, Jr., James Marshall, Brian Dennehy, and Robert Loggia. The film tells the story of two teenagers trapped in the world of illegal underground boxing. One is fighting to pay off gambling debts accumulated by his...
- Touched, in which he also acted.
Other activities
Kessler and his wife, actress Margaret LaddMargaret Ladd
Margaret Ladd is an American actress, best known for playing Emma Channing in the 1980s soap opera Falcon Crest throughout its nine-year run. She was also one of the many actresses who played Jane Skerba on the cancelled 1960s soap opera A Flame in the Wind which later became A Time for Us...
, are founders of the Imagination Workshop located at UCLA's Neuropsychiatric Institute. This workshop brings together actors, writers and directors who create scenes and original plays to be performed by psychiatric patients, veterans and "at risk" students in the L.A Public Schools. In 1998 they won the Ovation Award "for their excellence in using theatre to impact and involve a community."
Kessler and Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell is an American actor, film director and producer.-Career:Rydell's initial training was in music. As a youth, he wanted to be a conductor. He began his career as an actor and first became known for his role as Walt Johnson on The Edge of Night and as Jeff Baker on As the World Turns,...
co-moderate the Writer/Directors Unit of the Actors Studio
Actors Studio
The Actors Studio is a membership organization for professional actors, theatre directors and playwrights at 432 West 44th Street in the Clinton neighborhood of Manhattan in New York City. It was founded October 5, 1947, by Elia Kazan, Cheryl Crawford, Robert Lewis and Anna Sokolow who provided...
West. Kessler served as the Director of the Sundance Screenwriter's Lab
Sundance Institute
Sundance Institute is a non-profit organization founded by Robert Redford in 1981 that actively advances the work of filmmakers and storytellers worldwide...
. He also participated in the Sundance Screenwriters Conference in Hungary, working with writers from all over Eastern Europe.
Professional seminar
In 2009, Kessler, working with actor Martin LandauMartin Landau
Martin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
and director Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell
Mark Rydell is an American actor, film director and producer.-Career:Rydell's initial training was in music. As a youth, he wanted to be a conductor. He began his career as an actor and first became known for his role as Walt Johnson on The Edge of Night and as Jeff Baker on As the World Turns,...
, have teamed up to produce an education seminar, the Total Picture Seminar
The Total Picture Seminar
The Total Picture Seminar, a California LLC, was formed by Actor Martin Landau, Director Mark Rydell, and Screenwriter/Playwright Lyle Kessler. The purpose is to educate Actors, Writers, and Directors in the aspects of filmmaking. Martin Landau, Mark Rydell, and Lyle Kessler have worked together...
, a two-day event covering the disciplines of acting, directing and writing for film.
External links
- The Total Picture Seminar – A Seminar with Martin LandauMartin LandauMartin Landau is an American film and television actor. Landau began his career in the 1950s. His early films include a supporting role in Alfred Hitchcock's North by Northwest . He played continuing roles in the television series Mission: Impossible and Space:1999...
, Mark RydellMark RydellMark Rydell is an American actor, film director and producer.-Career:Rydell's initial training was in music. As a youth, he wanted to be a conductor. He began his career as an actor and first became known for his role as Walt Johnson on The Edge of Night and as Jeff Baker on As the World Turns,...
, and Lyle Kessler covering filmmaking.