In Memoriam Robbins in 1960. They moved to the Berkshires with their three children where she taught at local private schools, but she and Richard hoped to find work that they could do together. In April of 1971 they launched the Robbins-Zust Family Marionettes, “The Smallest Established Permanent Floating Theatre Rep Company in America,” which used wooden and Genie Zust ’59 plaster puppets to bring fairy tales to life for local children. The marionette bodies were whittled from wood by Richard, and the heads were cast in plaster molds made by Genie, who also sewed their clothing and wrote the scripts for more than two dozen fairy tales and classic stories. The original troupe included Genie and Richard and their three children, and continues today, led by son Dion. As one of the few local teachers with a doctorate degree, Genie was instrumental in helping to establish Berkshire Community College. She also acted in, assisted with, and directed plays, musicals, and operas with the Berkshire Lyric Theatre, the Berkshire Public Theater, and the Berkshire Opera. Genie died on November 6, 2014. Her survivors include her three children, Maia Robbins-Zust, Dion Robbins-Zust, and Thea Robbins-Zust; and one grandchild, Milo Robbins-Zust.
George Corrin, Jr. Designer
As a teenager, George Corrin, Jr. ’51 designed his first set for the Studio Players of Essex County in Upper Montclair, NJ. He graduated with a BFA in drama from Carnegie Mellon University where he was a Phi
Kappa Phi Honor Society member and received the Apell Memorial Award. George was also Carnegie Mellon’s first African American student, and was almost denied admission until a flood of recommendation letters swayed the school’s dean. His undergraduate studies were interrupted by three years of military service during World War II, where he spent some time in Special Services, working on productions for troops in the South Pacific. George later earned an MFA from Yale School of Drama and then moved to New York City to work for ABC Television, where he designed news and election night sets, including two of the debates between John F. Kennedy and Richard Nixon. After 13 years at ABC, he continued his work in video with Reeves Teletape, on commercials and programs, and coordinated the renovation of a former CBS television studio into a theatretelevision complex that eventually became the production home for Sesame Street. In the late 1970s George became a freelance designer and, while he continued to work in video, he also branched out into graphic and interior design, as well as returning to his roots in the theatre as a designer for many Off-Broadway productions. In 1989 he was hired to restore the top floor of the Shubert Theatre on Broadway to its former glory. George created elaborate woodworking, relying on information he gleaned from the original design and construction. He ordered recreations of turnof-the-century hardware, by using a period Sears catalog as reference, and had the carpet recreated by the same carpet mill which
George Corrin, Jr. ’51
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