F. Curtis Canfield

Fayette Curtis Canfield (July 29, 1903 – June 8, 1986) was an American theater director, drama professor, and the first dean of the Yale School of Drama.[1][2]

Fayette Curtis Canfield

Ph.D.
Born(1903-07-29)July 29, 1903
Bridgeport, Connecticut
DiedJune 8, 1986(1986-06-08) (aged 82)
Northampton, Massachusetts
EducationAmherst College

Career

A member of the 1925 class of Amherst College, Canfield took a teaching job there in 1927, eventually becoming Stanley King Professor of dramatic arts and, from 1938, director of the college's Kirby Memorial Theater.[1] In 1954, he was appointed as the first dean of the Yale School of Drama, remaining there until 1967.[3] At Yale, he produced the premieres of several major plays, including Archibald MacLeish's Pulitzer-winning J.B., (which was chosen by the U.S. State Department to represent American university theater at the 1958 Brussels World's Fair)[4] and staged revivals at Yale and off-Broadway, such as Stephen Vincent Benet's dramatic poem, John Brown's Body.[5] He left Yale in 1967 to teach at the University of Pittsburgh, where he stayed until his retirement in 1973.[3]

Canfield's career is distinguished by many factors. His expertise on emerging 20th century Irish drama led to the publication of several editions of essays and plays, including Plays of the Irish Renaissance, 1880-1930 and Plays of Changing Ireland, and his analytical approach to play direction prompted the publication of The Craft of Play Directing. Unusually for a professor of his era, his love of theater led him to accept regular professional directing work in summers and on sabbatical while maintaining a full academic career. Among other assignments, he directed the 1949 WNBW production of Julius Caesar produced by his Amherst Masquers to open the Folger Shakespeare Library Theater in Washington, D.C..[6] From July to September 1949, as a pioneer in the live direction of television drama, he produced a series of eight live half-hour dramas on NBC, featuring actors in short plays by Thornton Wilder and Edna St. Vincent Millay. He produced live TV performances of Hedda Gabler, Richard III, Othello, The Rivals and Uncle Vanya.[2]

Personal life

Canfield was born on July 29, 1903 in Bridgeport, Connecticut. On May 21, 1927, he married Katherine F. Newbold. Upon retiring he returned to live in Amherst. He died at the Cooley Dickinson Hospital in Northampton, Massachusetts on June 8, 1986.[1][3]

Bibliography
  • Canfield, F. Curtis, Plays of Changing Ireland, The Macmillan Company; First edition 1936, ASIN: B000IBA1D2
  • Canfield, ed. Plays of the Irish Renaissance, 1880-1930, Ayer Co Pub, June 1974, ISBN 0836982487
  • Canfield, The Craft of Play Directing Holt, Rinehart & Winston, 1963, ASIN: B000O91ZW4
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References
  1. Kleiman, Dena (June 26, 1986). "F. Curtis Canfield, 82, Dead". The New York Times.
  2. "F. Curtis Canfield, Yale Dean, TV Drama Pioneer". Los Angeles Times. June 28, 1986.
  3. "Canfield Papers, 1929-1981". Five College Archives and Manuscript Collections. Amherst College. Retrieved December 22, 2018.
  4. Braun, Gene (1991). Brown, Gene; McLanathan, Richard B. K. (eds.). The Arts. Great Contemporary Issues Series. Ayer. p. 297. ISBN 978-0405111532.
  5. "John Brown's Body (As staged at the Yale Drama School & Off-Broadway under the direction of Curtis Canfield..., http://goti581.blog.com/2011/12/19/john-browns-body-as-staged-at-the-yale-drama-school-off-broadway-under-the-direction-of-curtis-canfield-dramatists-plays-stephen-vincent-benet-fenno-heath-music/ Archived 2012-07-17 at Archive.today
  6. Academy Theatre and "Shakespeare at Amherst" at https://www.amherst.edu/library/archives/exhibitions/play/shakespeare#caesar
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