Lou Berger The
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rePhoto Courtesy Archives Department
hearsal. “I of
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By Kimberly Chin
O
n that day, based on a person’s date of birth, students were drafted. “What’s your number? What’s your number? What’s your number?” Lou Berger, ‘72, said, recalling a sense of relief after the calling ended. An actor who was heading in the same direction as Berger ended up getting drafted. He was set to perform in a Moliére comedy that day. “I remember watching the actor who had been picked perform very brilliant comedy the same day,” he said. “Talk about a crazed moment,” he quipped, adding that this would sum up the college experience in the late 1960s. As a theater major, Berger said that he was no stranger to conflict. He had studied it in his past four years at the University, along with drama, music and acting. He described the small theater department as a very nurturing environment that helped its students go through an energetic and tumultuous time. He performed in plays such as Arthur Miller’s “The Crucible,” which, he said, drew parallels to the time period. The play followed a woman who was shunned by society and the atmosphere created by her presence and situation was similar to that of the Vietnam War era in that the hysteria of society was called into question. “If you wanted to do a particular play that might question the values of a country, or why we were at war, those plays were done,” Berger said. His studies with conflict in the theater and his experiences going through the fervor of the college experience during the Vietnam War would later translate into his life’s work through humor, music and a pinch of drama. What resulted was an Emmy-award winning writer who had touched the lives of children and Photo Courtesy Hofstra University
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families around the world. Berger found a warm home in the studios of Sesame Street for two decades, coming on board as the head writer for 11 years and a staff writer for eight. He wrote for such stars as Big Bird, Ernie and Oscar the Grouch. He won 10 Emmy awards for his writing, including the prime-time New Year’s special, “Sesame Street Stays Up Late,” and “Sesame Street Presents: The Street We Live On.” He also scored an Emmy for the song, “The Street I Live On.” During his 20-year tenure at Sesame Street, he had also written several children’s books, novels, and plays. He wrote and starred in PBS’ “Show on the Road” and “Between the Lions,” as well as Nickelodeon’s first children’s show “Pinwheel.” Berger said that he tries to remember to be silly, funny, imaginative and human. His most proud work on Sesame Street was giving the show a “human” quality, which meant that the show did not talk down to children, but rather showed them real life scenarios. “You were allowed to show [children] conflict and how to live with the conflict,” Berger said. “It’s a show about an ideal community that does have conflicts.” When Hurricane Katrina hit the United States in 2005, Berger helped write a Sesame Street special about it. Sesame Street devoted a week to the “hurricane” show. Big Bird’s nest was destroyed by a hurricane and it showed how the community can come together to help restore it. In drama, one sees conflict on stage and relates to it from experiences and living through it. It helps build communities. When Berger was going through classes at the University, he described it as a challenging time because of the political events that affected everyone. His professors challenged him by forcing Berger and his peers to not just recreate famous plays, but contextualize the scripts to the world materializing around them. “What’s interesting is that while I was there, I would have never imagined that certain professors that you have had or certain experiences that you had really do come back in a very stron way,” explained Berger. “I was lucky enough to have really influential great teachers when I was there.”
11/25/09 2:08 PM