Jack Hofsiss Broadway Director Dies at 65 in New York

Jack Hofsiss was the youngest Broadway director to win a Tony Award at only 28, for his work on The Elephant Man, the 1979 Production at the Booth Theatre opened April 1979 closing mid 1981 after 916 performances, OBC included David Leshay Philip Anglim, Carole Shelley, Kevin Conway, Richard Clarke.
The production also garnered him a Drama Desk Award, Outer Critics Circle Award, Obie Award, and New York Drama Critics Circle Award.

John Bernard Hofsiss was born on September 28, 1950 in Brooklyn.He grew up in New York City, as a Catholic, and served as an altar boy, which he has said was his “first experience of theatre”. He was a 1971 graduate of Georgetown University.

After a directing stint at the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., he became a casting director in New York for several years. He then directed The Best of Families, a mini-series, for television in 1977. He also directed for TV Out of Our Father’s House (1978), 3 by Cheever: The Sorrows of Gin (1979), The Elephant Man (1982), “Family Secrets (1984), and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1985). In 1982 he directed the film I’m Dancing as Fast as I Can.

In 1985, Hofsiss dived into a pool and suffered a spinal cord injury, resulting in paralysis up to his mid-chest. He spent eight months at the Rusk Institute of Rehabilitation Medicine and used a wheelchair. Just months after the accident he returned to the theater scene, directing All the Way Home at the Berkshire Theatre Festival. Hofsiss appeared in the documentary The Needs of Kim Stanley in 2005. At the end of his life, Hofsiss was teaching directing at HB Studio in New York City.

     

Broadway Work

A Mom’s Life [Play, Solo, Original] Creative Consultant: Jack Hofsiss	Oct 19, 1998 – Nov 02, 1998
The Shadow Box [Play, Drama, Revival] Directed by Jack Hofsiss	Nov 20, 1994 – Jan 01, 1995
Total Abandon [Play, Original] Directed by Jack Hofsiss	Apr 28, 1983 – Apr 28, 1983
The Elephant Man [Play, Drama, Original] Directed by Jack Hofsiss	Apr 19, 1979 – Jun 28, 1981
Barry Manilow on Broadway [Special, Concert, Original] Staging Consultant: Jack Hofsiss	Dec 21, 1976 – Jan 02, 1977

 

Off Broadway Work

Production	Theatre	Opened	Credit
1	Confessions of a Mormon Boy	Soho Playhouse	02/05/2006	Director
2	Kilt	Theatre Three	04/10/2002	Director
3	Surviving Grace	Union Square Theatre	03/12/2002	Director
4	Avow	Century Center For The Performing Arts	07/27/2000	Director
5	James Joyce’s The Dead	Playwrights Horizons	10/01/1999	Director
6	My Night with Reg	INTAR Theatre	06/03/1997	Director
7	Splendora	American Place Theatre	11/01/1995	Director
8	Seconds Out	Joseph Papp Public Theater/LuEsther Hall	04/06/1993	Director
9	The Years	New York City Center-Stage I	12/21/1992	Director
10	The Subject Was Roses	Union Square Theatre	05/15/1991	Director
11	Poor Little Lambs	Parish Hall at the Church of Heavenly Rest	03/14/1982	Director
12	The Elephant Man	York Theatre at St. Peter’s	01/14/1979	Director
13	Rebel Women	Joseph Papp Public Theater/Newman Theater	05/06/1976	Director

Links

The Elephant Man at Theatregold DataBase More..

The Elephant Man at Theatregold Memorabilia More..

My Night with Reg at Theatregold Memorabilia More ..

The Subject was Roses at Theatregold Memorabilia More…