| Robert LuPone passed away today | |
| Posted by: Ann 03:17 pm EDT 08/27/22 | |
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| Email from MCC: MCC founding Co-Artistic Director Bob LuPone passed away Saturday, August 27 after a three year battle with pancreatic cancer. He is survived by his wife, Virginia, his son Orlando, sister Patti, and brother William. He is also survived by the profound impact he had on us. When Bernie Telsey and Bob LuPone met in the early 1980's they struck a creative spark called Manhattan Class Company, and, joined by Will Cantler not long after, formed a unique artistic leadership trio that has burned ever since. While the company was ostensibly formed to create new work for the American stage, it was always Bob's fierce need for engagement with the art, the artists, and the audience that animated and inspired us. Whenever we considered a play Bob always made us ask ourselves if it had a "third act"? Would we walk out of the theater anxious to go to the bar or restaurant and spend the rest of the night hashing over what we had seen? That perspective has animated every decision we've ever made. Some of our fondest memories are of the MCC Marathon Weekend retreats we did in the early days, where Bob would lead a group of actors, directors, and playwrights to a ramshackle retreat house on Long Island to read first drafts of new plays, eat, drink, and talk all weekend, as his mother Pat made food for us. For many of us, Bob created a sense of community that we had not yet found in New York, and we have treasured ever since. Bob was fiercely opinionated about plays, and just as fiercely unedited in his note sessions. If Bernie and Will sometimes paused about how or when to give a note, Bob always trusted that charging straight in with passion and candor would win the day, and we came to learn just how often he was right. If we fought often and loudly in our early days, we could never let go of each other and what we were building. The unruly passion of those days ripened into a trust of talking and listening that we hope permeates the whole culture of MCC today. After more than two decades of dreaming we opened the Robert W. Wilson MCC Theater Space in January of 2019 with a balloon drop from the Newman Mills Stage. Bob's joy at finally having a home for MCC lifted us all right up to the grid where those balloons came from. Bob was a force, an advocate, complex in the richest ways, overflowing with a youthful enthusiasm, and deeply wise as he looked in to our souls. He was our best friend. It is hard to believe that we will never sit down with him again and say "Let's talk.” Bernie Telsey and Will Cantler |
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