A MAN OF GREAT IMPORTANCE — TWELVE TOASTS FOR ANDRÉ

The same words come up time and time again when people are asked to describe André Bishop: kind, smart, and humble— the best qualities to have in a leader, and ones that are all too rare. It will come as no surprise to anyone who knows André that when asked to write a few words about their friend and colleague Mr. Bishop, every single one of these people, all luminaries of the American theater, responded within minutes with an enthusiastic “ Yes! ” While there are a few pages in this issue dedicated to celebrating André and his legacy, we could have easily filled volumes and volumes—for those who have the honor of knowing him personally, he is cherished beyond words.

Few if any artistic directors have shaped modern American theater with the creativity, taste, and passion of André Bishop. At Playwrights Horizons, he shepherded a whole new and groundbreaking generation of writers including Christopher Durang, William Finn, Richard Greenberg, James Lapine, and Wendy Wasserstein. At Lincoln Center Theater, he not only introduced countless other emerging voices to an even wider public but also mounted definitive American premieres of major works by Tom Stoppard and restorative revivals of American classics by Clifford Odets and Rodgers and Hammerstein. And he accomplished all of this with an unflagging kindness and modesty that are rare in our theater. As André steps back from an active producing role, he will be missed as much for his humanity and generosity as for his nearly half-century run of making indelible contributions to the American stage.

— Frank Rich

André Bishop cares about stories, about living and breathing people, and about inviting the Lincoln Center audiences inside entire worlds. He encouraged me as an artist and supported my vision for the theater. I am forever grateful for his invitation to be a resident director, because it meant the worlds I imagined got to live on some of the most important stages in New York City.

— Lileana Blain-Cruz

One of the great joys of this designer’s life was receiving a phone call from André Bishop offering a new play to design. Aside from his distinctive calm, sonorous telephone voice, and aside from him respectfully offering up a yummy project, it was his really unique skill at distilling what it was that was needed to be done, and why I was the right guy for the job. I always marveled at his skill at putting it all in one sentence. There was no extraneous information, and no usurping the director’s job. It was artistic direction. How you get all that in one sentence, I don’t know. On one difficult show that seemed to be jumping the tracks, I went to his office wavering in doubt. His answer was SIX words, no more. And those six words got me back on track, and the show was a notable success. Artistic direction defined.

— John Lee Beatty

I know what words can mean and it’s hard to put into words what André has meant for me— but I’ll try! Of course, his support of my work is the single most important factor in my finding my footing as a playwright, and yet, his tenure at LCT opened up important vistas for me not just as a theater artist but as a theater lover. His passion for the theater—for plays and playwrights—has enriched our literature and my life immeasurably.

— Ayad Akhtar

The late, great Flora Roberts—my then agent— called me and, in her deep bass-baritone voice, said, “You need to meet with André Bishop. He wants to talk to you.” So I scheduled a meeting with André, and when I walked in, I discovered his voice was just as deep and rich as Flora Roberts’! I took that as a sign! André told me, “If you have an idea, we will help you develop it.” When I heard those words, I had an out-of-body experience. The thought of creating something for Lincoln Center Theater made me float up to the ceiling. And, as it happened, I did actually have something in mind. I thanked him profusely and said I’d get back to him in a few days; I just needed to sort out this idea about a girl in a yellow dress. So I went home and called my good friend John Weidman, and together we created CONTACT. André’s support of that dance-driven piece built around characters longing for connection brought us all very close. To this day, I count him as one of my dearest friends. His sage advice and unwavering encouragement have bolstered me through many a project and many a trying time. His love for the theater is infectious. He treats his artists with respect, emboldening them and allowing them to do their best work. It does not escape me that André hired a woman to create, direct, and choreograph at a time when women were an afterthought as directors in the theater. He has made Lincoln Center Theater a place where anything is possible.

— Susan Stroman

I have had the privilege of knowing André Bishop as a cherished colleague and friend for over forty-five years. I met André when he was taking tickets at Playwrights Horizons in 1975 just when it had opened at the former strip joint on what then was the seedy stretch of far west 42nd Street. It was a reading of a play by Wendy Wasserstein. In a very short time thereafter, André was running the theater and producing the works of many young playwrights who would go on to shape the theater of our generation under his leadership. André is one of the few people who runs a theater but is not also a director. His work and taste is driven by his respect for the written word. He understands that successful theater productions begin on the page. As an artistic director, André has not sought the spotlight. In my opinion, his contributions have not been sufficiently recognized in the press. André Bishop has left an indelible mark on the theater. He has won the love and respect of all the accomplished theater artists who have been lucky enough to have worked with him. And for those of us who also call André our personal friend, our lives have been doubly blessed.

— James Lapine

Dear André, Working at Lincoln Center Theater elevated me, made me feel for the time I was there (though not long enough) like an artist. I am indebted to you for bringing me to LCT. I will miss you. We all will miss you. Just knowing you were upstairs in your office was enough to make me feel that I was in the best creative hands. All my love.

— Patti LuPone

As you all well know, André is a total maniac. We’ve spent so many crazy nights together drinking and partying until all hours, and he likes to party hard, it’s difficult to recall how we even met. It might have been a Grateful Dead concert but . . . oh, no, hold on, sorry, wait a minute, I was thinking of André the Giant. HE could party. André Bishop is a whole other matter. And not quite as tall. Seriously, I’ve had the great pleasure of working at Lincoln Center a few times over the years. First in Richard Nelson’s SOME AMERICANS ABROAD when it moved upstairs to the Vivian Beaumont, then in 2004 with the new adaptation of THE FROGS with Sondheim and Susan Stroman, and finally in 2013 in Douglas Carter Beane’s THE NANCE directed by Jack O’Brien. All three were thrilling, challenging, and immensely gratifying experiences, and the amazing man behind the latter two of those diverse productions was the one and only André Bishop. I was well-aware of his extremely successful and heralded tenure as artistic director at Playwrights Horizons but never had the opportunity to work with him back then. And I would be remiss not to mention his producing partner, the late great Bernie Gersten, whose legendary career at the Public with Joe Papp was also well known to me, but when they joined forces to run Lincoln Center Theater, they became the perfect team and the perfect producers, the best an actor could ever hope for. And, of course, André has continued that great work since Bernie’s passing. André and Bernie complimented each other so beautifully. Bernie was the warm, effusive cheerleader, your favorite uncle, who underneath it all knew everything there was to know about putting on a show and wanted only for you to do your very best work, and André was the equally incisive, compassionate, and supportive leader, but all expressed in his shy, self-effacing, and witty manner. André would always allow the artists to do their work without interference, but would also always be there, like a brilliant theatrical Yoda, to say just the right thing or ask just the right question when needed to help you find the right path in the journey of your piece. André is, without question, a class act, and an extremely kind and generous soul, and I never once saw him raise his voice or lose his temper. However, during THE FROGS I was told he hated a joke in the show with a passion heretofore unseen in our working relationship. It was a throwaway joke written in the style of Burt Shevelove, the original book writer of THE FROGS, and was more about rhythm than anything else. Here’s the line that dare not speak its name: Charon, the ancient boatman on the River Styx, says to the god Dionysus that he hasn’t seen any frogs on the river since “the Great Drought of ’42.” Dionysus says, “I don’t remember that drought” and Charon replies, “It wasn’t that great”. Harmless enough, but apparently André confided he would die of embarrassment if it wasn’t axed. Now, I never expected it to bring the house down, but I also didn’t expect it to drive André to a premature death, especially since we were contending with so much on that production, so I cut it. It didn’t save the show, but I was glad to give André some momentary relief during an intense preview period. André has had an extraordinary run at Lincoln Center Theater of remarkable work and unqualified success and will be a very hard act to follow. I congratulate him on this tremendous achievement and look forward to his next chapter. Thank you, André, not only for your kindness and generosity to me but for so many years of excellence, and for your gentlemanly, astute, and humane example of how to produce great theater. Well, what do you know? Turns out he is a giant after all.

— Nathan Lane

While actors may not be quite as complicated as opera singers, André’s 30-plus years at the artistic helm of Lincoln Center Theater makes my 19 years at the Met seem like a relative walk in the park. One of the joys of my tenure has been having André as my wise neighbor and good friend just a stone’s throw across the Plaza, where he has always been available for artistic counsel and collaboration. Now, with André’s glorious artistic work at LCT approaching the finish line, it may be time for him to take a victory lap, but beloved and revered by all, his legacy as a theatrical immortal shall forever endure.

— Peter Gelb

I have always felt, not just pleased, but flattered, to have had my work produced by André, first at Playwrights Horizons, then here at Lincoln Center—to have been identified as one of the artists whose work he felt deserved a spot inside the circle of extraordinary artists he had gathered inside his theaters. Take a walk around the building. Slow down when you pass the posters. Ayad Akhtar, Robbie Baitz, Chris Durang, Tina Howe, J. T. Rogers, and Tom Stoppard. Heady company. Then pause in front of the mural you pass on your way down to the Mitzi or up to the Beaumont. (Jim McMullan!) Here is a vivid, technicolor, tip-of-the-iceberg representation of just a tiny fraction of what André has accomplished since he took the artistic director reins from Greg Mosher over thirty years ago. And there, smack dab in the middle, is the Girl in the Yellow Dress, Deb Yates, still sailing as she has been for twenty-five years through the works of Ahrens and Flaherty, John Guare, Adam Guettel, Sarah Ruhl, and Wendy Wasserstein—just a few of the artists André has made part of his theatrical family. Comparisons are odious, and I have had satisfying relationships with other producers, but nothing that compares to the careerspanning pleasure which has flowed from my thirty-five-year relationship with André Bishop. I have been lucky, and I know it.

— John Weidman

I fell in love with André when I was hired for SOUTH PACIFIC in 2008, but I can’t remember a time I wasn’t in awe of him. Innovatively leading both Playwrights Horizons and Lincoln Center Theater might change a man. But anyone who knows André will tell you that he is among the most humble, kind, witty, gentle geniuses who has ever worked in our business. No matter the strife, no matter the difficulties, André always has a steady hand on the tiller. His strength, integrity and steadfast belief in artists is what drives him and to watch him at work is a thing of beauty. Having the opportunity to become his friend and to reap the rewards of that friendship has been one of the great joys of my career and life. André has been the calm in the middle of the New York City theater cyclone for generations. His experience and accumulated theatrical knowledge are unparalleled. He not only invented the role of the modern day artistic director, but he will forever be the standard by which all others will strive to emulate. The list of emerging artists he’s recognized, nurtured, and then championed is unparalleled. He is responsible for hundreds of theatrical productions, so many of them premieres, in New York and beyond, and it’s not hyperbole to say that the American Theater would be a much lesser place without his Herculean contributions. As I write this, I can hear André’s mellifluous tones admonishing me, “Now, Danny, you know that’s not true”. But it is. The fact is, his influence cannot be overstated. After his tenure here, I pray André continues to counsel artists with his unique sense of class, taste, and brilliance for as long as he so desires. His breadth of theatrical knowledge is a treasure trove and anyone wanting to produce or create theater should seek his guidance in every aspect. I know I will. I love you, André. And I’m still in awe.

— Danny Burstein

There are theater lovers. There are theater makers. And then there’s André Bishop. How lucky have we all been to have André in our lives. Ever since we met in the late ‘70s when he produced Christopher Durang’s SISTER MARY IGNATIUS EXPLAINS IT ALL FOR YOU, André has been the rock, the guiding light, and the reason plays get done. Wise, passionate, and the greatest friend to the playwright imaginable, André brings theater makers together, gives them space and guidance, and trusts them. Thank you from the bottom of my heart for your trust and for your friendship. Lincoln Center Theater has been so fortunate to have you at its artistic helm. I’m sure the theater treasures everything you’ve done to make it what it is today. I certainly treasure our friendship. Bravo, André.

— Jerry Zaks