IN MEMORIAM

Generous of Spirit and Heart

Shakespeare & Company Remembers Critic, Writer, and Visionary Terry Teachout

Theater critic, author, and director Terry Teachout passed away on January 13, 2022. A true artist—a playwright, librettist, musician, director, and one of the most respected theater critics in the country—Teachout was a friend to many at Shakespeare & Company. “He was incredibly special; one of the greats,” said Company Artist Elizabeth Aspenlieder. “He was fair, generous, kind, and always unabashedly living in the moment.” A denizen of New York since 1985, Teachout was a prolific writer who penned everything from dramatic critique to operatic libretti and autobiography forewords to album liner notes for the likes of Gene Krupa, Diana Krall, and bluegrass-band Nickel Creek. He wrote for The Wall Street Journal, New York Times, Harper’s,

Terry Teachout and New York Daily News, among many other outlets, and published biographies about visionaries including choreographer George Balanchine, musicians Louis Armstrong and Duke Ellington, and journalist H. L. Mencken. Teachout first came to Shakespeare & Company in 2006 to see a production of The Merry Wives of Windsor, and continued this tradition up until this past summer, taking in King Lear and BECOMING OTHELLO, a one-woman play by Debra Ann Byrd. Later, he returned as a playwright, bringing his first play Satchmo at the Waldorf to the Company with John Douglas Thompson in the title role. He would go on to stage two more plays as works-inprogress at Shakespeare & Company. “It is rare to find someone so multi-talented as Terry,” noted Founding Artistic Director Tina Packer. “Most famous as a theater critic, he actually held a huge amount of knowledge about how theater works, a passion for writing plays, and the love of all things dramatic and life-enhancing.” To continue to enjoy the words and work of Terry Teachout, visit Publishers Weekly for a full list of his books at tinyurl.com/TerryTeachoutBooks. ■

“…And all the men and women merely players; They have their exits and their entrances; And one man in his time plays many parts, His acts being seven ages.”

– As You Like It, Act II, sc. vii

Left to Right: Hilary Teachout, Elizabeth Aspenlieder, Tony Simotes, and Terry Teachout