Stephen Porter (director)
Encyclopedia
Stephen Winthrop Porter (born July 24, 1925) is an American stage and television director, producer, set designer and writer best known for directing the classics, especially George Bernard Shaw
, Molière
and Shakespeare. Porter has directed more than thirty Broadway
plays and many regional, Off-Broadway
and other productions over his long career. He was nominated for two Tony Award
s and two Drama Desk Award
s for his work as a director.
to Charles Talbot and Anna Martin. His father was an engineer and his mother a school teacher. Porter studied at Yale University
.
in Montreal
, Canada. He worked at the university from 1952 to 1955 and while there directed productions of Measure for Measure
, Les Caprices de Marianne
, The Cenci
, The Seagull
and Much Ado About Nothing
. He then directed at various theatres in Canada. In 1956, Porter moved to New York City
to direct and produce The Misanthrope
at the Off-Broadway
Theatre East. Porter remained in New York for the next three years directing and/or producing several Broadway
and off-Broadway plays, including productions of The Country Wife
, Mister Roberts
, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
, The Matchmaker
, Inherit the Wind
, Auntie Mame
and Room at the Top. In 1959, Porter moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
to work for the Fred Miller Theatre where he directed two plays: the Dark of the Moon
and Our Town
.
In 1960, Porter became the Director for the Association of Producing Artists (APA) at the McCarter Theatre
in Princeton, New Jersey
. During his two-year tenure there, he directed such plays as Right You Are by Luigi Pirandello
, Scapin
, King Lear
, Twelfth Night, The Alchemist
, Antigone
, Caligula
, Galileo and Julius Caesar
. In 1962, Porter became the Artistic Director for the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati, Ohio
. He held that position for three years, directing many plays, including The Lady's Not for Burning
, The Hostage
, The Devil's Disciple
, The Burnt Flower Bed by Ugo Betti
, The Doctor in Spite of Himself, Major Barbara and Sodom and Gomorrah
among others. During this time, Porter also directed several plays in New York City, including Scapin for the Phoenix Theatre company in 1963; three different productions of Right You Are in 1963, 1964 and 1966; Impromptu at Versailles for Phoenix Theatre in 1964; The Hostage and Man and Superman
(written by Porter) in 1964; three successful Broadway revivals in a row: the The Wild Duck
(1965), The Show-Off (1967) and The Misanthrope (1968); Krapp's Last Tape
; King Lear; Twelfth Night; another Broadway revival, Private Lives
, in 1969, and Harvey (1970).
In 1971, Porter became the artistic director of the New Phoenix Repertory Company in New York City. Porter remained in that position for five years, and while there directed and produced several productions including: The School for Wives
(1971), Dom Juan
, The Visit (1973), Chemin de fer (1974), Rules of the Game and They Knew What They Wanted
. After this, he directed for Circle in the Square, including their successful 1977 revival of The Importance of Being Earnest
. During this decade, Porter received considerable acclaim, receiving nominations for Tony Award
s for Best Director of a Play for his work on The School for Wives (1971) and Chemin de Fer (1974), as well as nominations for Drama Desk Award
s for Outstanding Director of a Play for his work on They Knew What They Wanted (1976) and Man and Superman (1979).
Since then, Porter has directed more than fifty more plays either on or off Broadway or at Regional theaters throughout the United States and Canada. More recent credits include the Broadway productions of The Devil's Disciple (1988) and The Miser
(1990) and Getting Married (1991). Porter has also directed a few Television productions, most notably PBS' 1974 production of A Touch of the Poet
.
George Bernard Shaw
George Bernard Shaw was an Irish playwright and a co-founder of the London School of Economics. Although his first profitable writing was music and literary criticism, in which capacity he wrote many highly articulate pieces of journalism, his main talent was for drama, and he wrote more than 60...
, Molière
Molière
Jean-Baptiste Poquelin, known by his stage name Molière, was a French playwright and actor who is considered to be one of the greatest masters of comedy in Western literature...
and Shakespeare. Porter has directed more than thirty Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
plays and many regional, Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
and other productions over his long career. He was nominated for two Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s and two Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s for his work as a director.
Biography
Stephen Porter was born in Ogdensburg, New YorkOgdensburg, New York
Ogdensburg is a city in St. Lawrence County, New York, United States. The population was 11,128 at the 2010 census. In the late 18th century, European-American settlers named the community after American land owner and developer Samuel Ogden....
to Charles Talbot and Anna Martin. His father was an engineer and his mother a school teacher. Porter studied at Yale University
Yale University
Yale University is a private, Ivy League university located in New Haven, Connecticut, United States. Founded in 1701 in the Colony of Connecticut, the university is the third-oldest institution of higher education in the United States...
.
Career
Porter began his career as a teacher, director and designer for McGill UniversityMcGill University
Mohammed Fathy is a public research university located in Montreal, Quebec, Canada. The university bears the name of James McGill, a prominent Montreal merchant from Glasgow, Scotland, whose bequest formed the beginning of the university...
in Montreal
Montreal
Montreal is a city in Canada. It is the largest city in the province of Quebec, the second-largest city in Canada and the seventh largest in North America...
, Canada. He worked at the university from 1952 to 1955 and while there directed productions of Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure
Measure for Measure is a play by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1603 or 1604. It was classified as comedy, but its mood defies those expectations. As a result and for a variety of reasons, some critics have labelled it as one of Shakespeare's problem plays...
, Les Caprices de Marianne
Les caprices de Marianne
Les caprices de Marianne is a two-act opéra comique by Henri Sauguet with a French libretto by Jean-Pierre Grédy after Alfred de Musset. It was first performed at the Aix-en-Provence Festival in 1954, with the Orchestre de la Société des Concerts du Conservatoire conducted by Louis de Froment with...
, The Cenci
The Cenci
The Cenci, A Tragedy, in Five Acts is a verse drama in five acts by Percy Bysshe Shelley written in the summer of 1819, and inspired by a real Italian family, the Cencis . Shelley composed the play at Rome and at Villa Valsovano near Livorno, from May to August 5, 1819...
, The Seagull
The Seagull
The Seagull is the first of what are generally considered to be the four major plays by the Russian dramatist Anton Chekhov. The Seagull was written in 1895 and first produced in 1896...
and Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing
Much Ado About Nothing is a comedy written by William Shakespeare about two pairs of lovers, Benedick and Beatrice, and Claudio and Hero....
. He then directed at various theatres in Canada. In 1956, Porter moved to New York City
New York City
New York is the most populous city in the United States and the center of the New York Metropolitan Area, one of the most populous metropolitan areas in the world. New York exerts a significant impact upon global commerce, finance, media, art, fashion, research, technology, education, and...
to direct and produce The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope
The Misanthrope is the first EP from metal band Darkest Hour. It was released in 1996 on the defunct label Death Truck Records. It is much more hardcore orientated metalcore unlike their later releases.- Track listing :# "Vise" - 5:30...
at the Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway
Off-Broadway theater is a term for a professional venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, and for a specific production of a play, musical or revue that appears in such a venue, and which adheres to related trade union and other contracts...
Theatre East. Porter remained in New York for the next three years directing and/or producing several Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
and off-Broadway plays, including productions of The Country Wife
The Country Wife
The Country Wife is a Restoration comedy written in 1675 by William Wycherley. A product of the tolerant early Restoration period, the play reflects an aristocratic and anti-Puritan ideology, and was controversial for its sexual explicitness even in its own time. The title itself contains a lewd pun...
, Mister Roberts
Mister Roberts (play)
Mister Roberts is a 1948 play based on the 1946 Thomas Heggen novel of the same name.The novel began as a collection of short stories about Heggen's experiences aboard the USS Virgo in the South Pacific during World War II...
, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof is a play by Tennessee Williams. One of Williams's best-known works and his personal favorite, the play won the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1955...
, The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker
The Matchmaker is a play by Thornton Wilder.The play has a long and colorful history. John Oxenford's 1835 one-act farce A Day Well Spent had been extended into a full-length play entitled Einen Jux will er sich machen by Austrian playwright Johann Nestroy in 1842...
, Inherit the Wind
Inherit the Wind (play)
Inherit the Wind is a play by Jerome Lawrence and Robert Edwin Lee. The play, which debuted in 1955, is a parable that fictionalizes the 1925 Scopes "Monkey" Trial as a means to discuss the then-contemporary McCarthy trials.-Background:...
, Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame
Auntie Mame is a 1955 novel by Patrick Dennis that chronicles the madcap adventures of a boy, Patrick, growing up as the ward of his deceased father's eccentric sister, Mame Dennis. The book is a work of fiction inspired by the author's eccentric aunt, Marion Tanner, whose life and outlook in many...
and Room at the Top. In 1959, Porter moved to Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee, Wisconsin
Milwaukee is the largest city in the U.S. state of Wisconsin, the 28th most populous city in the United States and 39th most populous region in the United States. It is the county seat of Milwaukee County and is located on the southwestern shore of Lake Michigan. According to 2010 census data, the...
to work for the Fred Miller Theatre where he directed two plays: the Dark of the Moon
Dark of the Moon (play)
Dark of the Moon is a dramatic stage play by Howard Richardson and William Berney which had a ten-month run on Broadway in 1945, followed by numerous college and high-school productions....
and Our Town
Our Town
Our Town is a three-act play by American playwright Thornton Wilder. It is a character story about an average town's citizens in the early twentieth century as depicted through their everyday lives...
.
In 1960, Porter became the Director for the Association of Producing Artists (APA) at the McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre
McCarter Theatre is a not-for-profit, professional company on the campus of Princeton University in Princeton, New Jersey. It is one of the most active cultural centers in the nation, offering over 200 performances of theater, dance, music and special events each year...
in Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton, New Jersey
Princeton is a community located in Mercer County, New Jersey, United States. It is best known as the location of Princeton University, which has been sited in the community since 1756...
. During his two-year tenure there, he directed such plays as Right You Are by Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello
Luigi Pirandello was an Italian dramatist, novelist, and short story writer awarded the Nobel Prize in Literature in 1934, for his "bold and brilliant renovation of the drama and the stage." Pirandello's works include novels, hundreds of short stories, and about 40 plays, some of which are written...
, Scapin
Scapin
For the French play by Molière, also known as Scapin, see Les Fourberies de ScapinScapin is an Italian surname, frequent in the region of Veneto in northeastern Italy, especially in the provinces of Padua and Vicenza...
, King Lear
King Lear
King Lear is a tragedy by William Shakespeare. The title character descends into madness after foolishly disposing of his estate between two of his three daughters based on their flattery, bringing tragic consequences for all. The play is based on the legend of Leir of Britain, a mythological...
, Twelfth Night, The Alchemist
The Alchemist (play)
The Alchemist is a comedy by English playwright Ben Jonson. First performed in 1610 by the King's Men, it is generally considered Jonson's best and most characteristic comedy; Samuel Taylor Coleridge claimed that it had one of the three most perfect plots in literature...
, Antigone
Antigone
In Greek mythology, Antigone is the daughter of Oedipus and Jocasta, Oedipus' mother. The name may be taken to mean "unbending", coming from "anti-" and "-gon / -gony" , but has also been suggested to mean "opposed to motherhood", "in place of a mother", or "anti-generative", based from the root...
, Caligula
Caligula (play)
Caligula is a play written by Albert Camus, begun in 1938 and published for the first time in May 1944 by Éditions Gallimard. The play was later the subject of numerous revisions. It was part of what the author called the "Cycle of the Absurd", with the novel The Outsider and the essay The Myth...
, Galileo and Julius Caesar
Julius Caesar (play)
The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
. In 1962, Porter became the Artistic Director for the Playhouse in the Park in Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati, Ohio
Cincinnati is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio. Cincinnati is the county seat of Hamilton County. Settled in 1788, the city is located to north of the Ohio River at the Ohio-Kentucky border, near Indiana. The population within city limits is 296,943 according to the 2010 census, making it Ohio's...
. He held that position for three years, directing many plays, including The Lady's Not for Burning
The Lady's Not for Burning
The Lady's Not for Burning is a 1948 play by Christopher Fry.A romantic comedy in three acts, set in verse, it is set in the Middle Ages, it reflects the world's "exhaustion and despair" following World War II, with a war-weary soldier who wants to die, and an accused witch who wants to live...
, The Hostage
The Hostage (play)
The Hostage is a loose 1958 English version, with songs, adapted in a much longer text from a one-act Irish language play An Giall, by its author, Brendan Behan.-Plot:...
, The Devil's Disciple
The Devil's Disciple
The Devil's Disciple is an 1897 play written by Irish dramatist, George Bernard Shaw. The play is Shaw's eighth, and after Richard Mansfield's original 1897 American production it was his first financial success, which helped to affirm his career as a playwright...
, The Burnt Flower Bed by Ugo Betti
Ugo Betti
Ugo Betti was an Italian judge, better known as an author, who is considered by many the greatest Italian playwright next to Pirandello....
, The Doctor in Spite of Himself, Major Barbara and Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah
Sodom and Gomorrah were cities mentioned in the Book of Genesis and later expounded upon throughout the Hebrew Bible, the New Testament and Deuterocanonical sources....
among others. During this time, Porter also directed several plays in New York City, including Scapin for the Phoenix Theatre company in 1963; three different productions of Right You Are in 1963, 1964 and 1966; Impromptu at Versailles for Phoenix Theatre in 1964; The Hostage and Man and Superman
Man and Superman
Man and Superman is a four-act drama, written by George Bernard Shaw in 1903. The series was written in response to calls for Shaw to write a play based on the Don Juan theme. Man and Superman opened at The Royal Court Theatre in London on 23 May 1905, but with the omission of the 3rd Act...
(written by Porter) in 1964; three successful Broadway revivals in a row: the The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck
The Wild Duck is an 1884 play by the Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen.-Plot:The first act opens with a dinner party hosted by Håkon Werle, a wealthy merchant and industrialist. The gathering is attended by his son, Gregers Werle, who has just returned to his father's home following a self-imposed...
(1965), The Show-Off (1967) and The Misanthrope (1968); Krapp's Last Tape
Krapp's Last Tape
Krapp's Last Tape is a one-act play, written in English, by Samuel Beckett. Consisting of a cast of one man, it was originally written for Northern Irish actor Patrick Magee and first titled "Magee monologue"...
; King Lear; Twelfth Night; another Broadway revival, Private Lives
Private Lives
Private Lives is a 1930 comedy of manners in three acts by Noël Coward. It focuses on a divorced couple who discover that they are honeymooning with their new spouses in neighbouring rooms at the same hotel. Despite a perpetually stormy relationship, they realise that they still have feelings for...
, in 1969, and Harvey (1970).
In 1971, Porter became the artistic director of the New Phoenix Repertory Company in New York City. Porter remained in that position for five years, and while there directed and produced several productions including: The School for Wives
The School for Wives
The School for Wives is a theatrical comedy written by the seventeenth century French playwright Molière and considered by some critics to be one of his finest achievements. It was first staged at the Palais Royal theatre on 26 December 1662 for the brother of the King...
(1971), Dom Juan
Dom Juan
Dom Juan or The Feast with the Statue is a French play by Molière, based on the legend of Don Juan. Molière's characters Dom Juan and Sganarelle are the French counterparts to the Spanish Don Juan and Catalinón, characters who would later become familiar to opera goers as Don Giovanni and Leporello...
, The Visit (1973), Chemin de fer (1974), Rules of the Game and They Knew What They Wanted
They Knew What They Wanted (play)
They Knew What They Wanted is a 1924 play written by Sidney Howard that tells the story of Tony, an aging Italian winegrower in the California Napa Valley, who proposes by letter to Amy, a San Francisco waitress who waited on him once. Fearing that she will find him too old and ugly, Tony sends her...
. After this, he directed for Circle in the Square, including their successful 1977 revival of The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest
The Importance of Being Earnest, A Trivial Comedy for Serious People is a play by Oscar Wilde. First performed on 14 February 1895 at St. James's Theatre in London, it is a farcical comedy in which the protagonists maintain fictitious personae in order to escape burdensome social obligations...
. During this decade, Porter received considerable acclaim, receiving nominations for Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
s for Best Director of a Play for his work on The School for Wives (1971) and Chemin de Fer (1974), as well as nominations for Drama Desk Award
Drama Desk Award
The Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
s for Outstanding Director of a Play for his work on They Knew What They Wanted (1976) and Man and Superman (1979).
Since then, Porter has directed more than fifty more plays either on or off Broadway or at Regional theaters throughout the United States and Canada. More recent credits include the Broadway productions of The Devil's Disciple (1988) and The Miser
The Miser
L'Avare is a 1668 five-act satirical comedy by French playwright Molière. Its title is usually translated as The Miser when the play is performed in English....
(1990) and Getting Married (1991). Porter has also directed a few Television productions, most notably PBS' 1974 production of A Touch of the Poet
A Touch of the Poet
A Touch of the Poet is a play by Eugene O'Neill.It and its sequel, More Stately Mansions, were intended to be part of a nine-play cycle entitled A Tale of Possessors Self-Dispossessed...
.