Bernard Gersten

Bernard Gersten (January 30, 1923 – April 27, 2020) was an American theatrical producer. Beginning in the 1960s through the early 2000s, Gersten played a major role in shaping American drama and musical theatre.

From 1960 to 1978, Gersten worked with Joseph Papp as associate producer at the New York Shakespeare Festival. After leaving the NYSF, he served as executive producer of Lincoln Center Theater from 1985 until he retired in 2013, where (with Gregory Mosher, then with Andre Bishop) he oversaw over 150 productions.

In addition to receiving the Antoinette Perry Award (The "Tony Award") for Lifetime Achievement in 2013, Gersten was the recipient of fifteen Tony Awards for his productions.

He died from pancreatic cancer on April 27, 2020, at the age of 97.

Personal life

Gersten was the son of Henrietta (Henig) Gersten and Jacob Israel Gersten, a garment worker and chauffeur. Gersten grew up in Newark, New Jersey, in a traditional Jewish immigrant household, crowded with relatives, his father Jacob holding the position of secretary at the local synagogue. Like his cohort, Joseph Papp, Gersten came to the theater from an unsophisticated middle-class background.

As a teenager, Gersten became interested in theater and acting during his time at West Side High School.

Gersten was attending Rutgers University as the United States entered World War II following the Japanese attack on Pearl Harbor. He enlisted in the quartermaster corps and was stationed in Hawaii. He transitioned into special services after attending a performance on a base of Macbeth featuring the theater stars Maurice Evans (a Captain) and Dame Judith Anderson. Working on productions in the military, he developed his skills as a stage manager and producer. In the late 1950s, Gersten was hired by John Houseman to work as a stage manager at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. He was active as a Broadway production stage manager at the American Shakespeare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut. His last job was as a Production Stage Manager (PSM) to the first performances of Funny Girl starring Barbra Streisand.

New York Shakespeare Festival

In 1960, Joseph Papp invited Gersten to work with him at the New York Shakespeare Festival. The job as associate producer became a full-time job in 1964. This began a long partnership during which Papp and Gersten established the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF) at the old Astor Library downtown while presenting a series of significant productions. During his tenure at the NYSF, it would become the pre-eminent non-profit theater in the United States. (Gersten would also produce at Lincoln Center’s Vivian Beaumont and Mitzi E. Newhouse (prior to 1973 the Forum) theaters during NYSF’s tenure there between 1974 and 1977.) Mosher approached Gersten, who was then hired as Executive Producer. Under Mosher and Gersten, the Vivian Beaumont and the Mitzi E. Newhouse theaters, moribund for nearly a decade, flourished. More than twenty productions followed in quick succession over the next five years, including several major successes (see Lincoln Center Theater). In 1991, Mr. Mosher announced that he would leave LCT to pursue other projects.

In 1991, Gersten invited Andre Bishop to take over as Artistic Director, and Bishop's tenure began in 1992. After Gersten's retirement, Bishop had the title of Producing Artistic Director. The long list of successes at Lincoln Center Theater grew under their partnership. For almost twenty years, Mr. Gersten and Mr. Bishop produced an award-winning series of top shelf theatrical productions, sparing no expense to achieve the most exacting artistic results. A number of plays produced at Lincoln Center Theater moved to Broadway (or were produced directly for Broadway). Muscular, precise, and visually striking theater became the hallmark of Lincoln Center Theater.

Bernard Gersten produced over 150 productions at LCT, including a revival of John Guare’s House of Blue Leaves and premiere of Six Degrees of Separation, Wendy Wasserstein’s Sisters Rosenzweig, Edward Albee’s A Delicate Balance, Ngema's Sarafina, David Mamet’s Speed the Plow, Tom Stoppard’s The Coast of Utopia and a revival of South Pacific. Under Gersten, the Lincoln Center Theater championed the work of Spalding Gray, John Guare, Edward Albee, Tom Stoppard and Wendy Wasserstein among the dozens of playwrights, composers, and directors who worked there, including Gerald Gutierrez, Jerry Zaks, Susan Stroman, Daniel Sullivan, Bartlett Sher and Graciele Daniele.

Drama Desk Awards Drama Desk Special Award for Revitalizing the Lincoln Center Theater, 2012

Tony Awards Antoinette Perry Award (Tony) for Lifetime Achievement, 2013 Sticks and Bones Associate Producer, Best Play, 1971 Two Gentlemen of Verona Associate Producer, Best Musical, 1971 That Championship Season Associate Producer, Best Play 1973 A Chorus Line Associate Producer, Best Musical, 1976 Anything Goes Executive Producer, Best Revival of a Musical, 1989 Our Town Executive Producer, Best Revival of a Play, 1989 Carousel Executive Producer, Best Revival of a Musical, 1994 The Heiress Executive Producer, Best Revival of a Play, 1995 A Delicate Balance Executive Producer, Best Revival of a Play, 1996 Contact Executive Producer, Best Musical, 2000 Awake and Sing Executive Producer, Best Revival of a Play, 2006 The Coast of Utopia Executive Producer, Best Play, 2007 South Pacific Executive Producer, Best Revival of a Musical, 2008 War Horse Executive Producer, Best Play, 2011 Clybourne Park Executive Producer, Best Play, 2012 Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike Executive Producer, Best Play, 2013