Arthur Kopit

Arthur Kopit
Arthur Kopit in Ireland, July 2011
Born	Arthur Lee Koenig (1937-05-10)May 10, 1937 Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Died	April 2, 2021(2021-04-02) (aged 83) Manhattan, New York, U.S.
Occupation	Playwright
Years active	1962–2021

Arthur Lee Kopit (May 10, 1937 – April 2, 2021) was an American playwright. He was a two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist (Indians and Wings) and a three-time Tony Award nominee: Best Play, Indians (1970); Best Play, Wings (1979); and Best Book of a Musical, for Nine (1982). He won the Vernon Rice Award (now known as the Drama Desk Award) in 1962 for his play Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad and was nominated for another Drama Desk Award in 1979 for his play Wings.

Early life

Kopit was born Arthur Lee Koenig in Manhattan on May 10, 1937. His father, Henry, worked as an advertising salesman; his mother, Maxine (Dubin), was a millinery model. They divorced when he was two years old. He consequently adopted the surname of his stepfather, George Kopit, after his mother remarried. Kopit was raised in Lawrence, Nassau County, and attended Lawrence High School. He studied engineering at Harvard University, graduating in 1959. Although he intended to go into science or business, his interest in theater was piqued when he enrolled in a modern drama workshop. He started to compose short plays featuring "outlandish" and long-winded titles, which were staged while he was still an undergraduate.

Career

After graduating from Harvard, Kopit undertook a graduate fellowship in Europe. It was during this time that he learned of a playwriting contest organized by the university, which he consequently signed up for. He wrote the play – titled Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad – in Europe and completed it in five days. He ultimately won the contest with a $250 prize, even though he had dismissed the play's commercial potential. Oh Dad proceeded to run off-Broadway by Jerome Robbins for over a year, touring for 11 weeks, and culminating in a six-week run on Broadway in 1963. It also began a long-standing collaboration with Roger L. Stevens, who participated in the production of all of Kopit's work through to 1984 (with the sole exception of Nine). Kopit was conferred the Vernon Rice Award and Outer Critics Circle Award for best new play in 1962.

Kopit continued his success with a series of one-act plays like The Day the Whores Came Out to Play Tennis, as well as the three-act On the Runway of Life, You Never Know What's Coming Off Next. He was inspired to write Indians (1969) after reading a newspaper article of a shooting incident in Saigon.

Kopit subsequently taught at Wesleyan University, Yale University, and the City College of New York. He donated his papers to the Fales Library at New York University in 2005.

Nine returned to Broadway in 2003, with Antonio Banderas as Guido. It ended up winning two Tony Awards, including best revival. Rob Marshall later directed the film Nine in 2009 based on Kopit's script. The principal cast consisted of Daniel Day-Lewis, Judi Dench, Nicole Kidman, Marion Cotillard, Penélope Cruz, Sophia Loren, Kate Hudson, and Fergie.

Personal life

Kopit married Leslie Garis in 1968. They remained married until his death. Together, they had three children: Alex, Ben, and Kat.

Kopit died on April 2, 2021, at his home in Manhattan. He was 83; the cause of death was not disclosed.

Works

• Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin' So Sad (1963)
• Chamber Music (1965) – published in the collection Chamber Music and Other Plays including Chamber music, The questioning of Nick, Sing to me through open windows, The hero, The conquest of Everest, The Day the Whores Came Out to Play Tennis
• Indians (1969), simultaneously a review of America's treatment of Native Americans and a critique of the Vietnam War; inspired the 1976 film by Robert Altman, Buffalo Bill and the Indians, or Sitting Bull's History Lesson.
• Wings (1978), a more somber story of a stroke victim's recovery
• Nine (1982), an adaptation of Federico Fellini's film 8½
• Good Help is Hard to Find (1982)
• End of the World with Symposium to Follow (1984), a mordant investigation of the arms race and nuclear destruction.
• Road to Nirvana (1991)
• Success (published in Plays in One Act, Ecco Press, 1991)
• Phantom (1992), a musical version of The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux. Music and Lyrics by Maury Yeston.
• High Society (Broadway musical, 1998)
• Y2K (2000) – subsequently published under the title Because He Can

External links

• The Fales Library guide to the Arthur Kopit Papers
• Arthur Kopit at IMDb
• Arthur Kopit at the Internet Broadway Database
• Arthur Kopit at Internet Off-Broadway Database
• The Samuel French Arthur Kopit page