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Richard Barr Biography (1917-1989)

Born Richard Baer, September 6, 1917, in Washington, DC; died of liver failure resulting from the HIV virus associated with AIDS, January 9, 1989, in NewYork, NY; son of David Alphonse (a builder) and Ruth Nanette (Israel) Baer.

Rather than stage out-of-town tryouts for their 1962 production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Richard Barr and his partner, Clinton Wilder, electedto preview the drama on Broadway. The success of these advance showings helped establish the practice of New York previews and, according to Barr's New York Times obituary, he and Wilder "were credited with changing the way Broadway plays were produced."

Nationality

American

Gender

Male

Birth Details

September 6, 1917

Washington

Death Details

January 9, 1989

New York, New York, United States

Famous Works

• Credits
• STAGE DEBUT--Convention attendant, Danton's Death, Mercury Theatre Company, Mercury Theatre, New York City, 1938.
• Credits; PRINCIPAL STAGE WORK
• Director, Volpone, Angel Street, and The Bear, all City Center Theatre, New York City, 1948.
• director and lighting designer, Richard III, Booth Theatre, New York City, 1949.
• director, Deirdre of the Sorrows, Master Institute Theatre, New York City, 1949.
• director, Arms and the Man, Arena Theatre, New York City, 1950.
• producer (with Charles Bowden) and director, At Home with Ethel Waters, 48th Street Theatre, New York City, 1953.
• producer (with Bowden), Ruth Draper and Her Company of Characters, Vanderbilt Theatre, New York City, 1954.
• director, The Boy with a Cart, Broadway Tabernacle Church, New York City,1954.
• producer (with Bowden), Ruth and Paul Draper, Bijou Theatre, New York City, 1954.
• producer (with Bowden), "Trouble in Tahiti," "Paul Draper," and "27 Wagons Full of Cotton," in All in One, Playhouse Theatre, New York City, 1955.
• producer (with Bowden), Ruth Draper, Playhouse Theatre, 1956.
• producer (with Bowden and H. Ridgely Bullock), Fallen Angels, Playhouse Theatre, 1956.
• producer (with Bowden, Bullock, Richard Myers, and Julius Fleischmann), Hotel Paradiso, Henry Miller's Theatre, New York City, 1957.
• producer (with Bowden and Bullock), Season of Choice, Barbizon-Plaza Theatre, New York City, 1959.
• Credits; Producer (with H.B. Lutz and Harry J. Brown, Jr.), as "Theatre 1960"
• Krapp's Last Tape and The Zoo Story (double-bill), Provincetown Playhouse, New York City, 1960; (also director) The Killer, Seven Arts Theatre, New York City, 1960; (also director) Nekros, Embers, and Fam and Yam (triple-bill),American National Theatre and Academy (ANTA) Matinee Series, Theatre De Lys,New York City, 1960.
• Producer, as "Theatre 1961": The Sudden End of Anne Cinquefoil, East EndTheatre, New York City, 1961; (with Clinton Wilder) The American Dream and Bartleby (double-bill), York Theatre, New York City, 1961 (Bartleby was replaced by the Valerie Bettis Dance Theatre and later by The Death of Bessie Smith); (with Wilder) Gallows Humor, Gramercy Arts Theatre, New York City, 1961.
• Producer (with Wilder), as "Theatre 1962": Happy Days, Cherry Lane Theatre, New York City, 1961; The Theatre of the Absurd (a repertory program consisting of of Endgame, Bertha, Gallows Humor, The Sandbox, Deathwatch, Picnic onthe Battlefield, The American Dream, [also director] The Zoo Story, and [also director] The Killer), Cherry Lane Theatre, 1962.
• Producer (with Wilder), as "Theatre 1963": Mrs. Dally Has a Lover and Whisper into My Good Ear (double-bill), Cherry Lane Theatre, 1962; Who's Afraidof Virginia Woolf?, Billy Rose Theatre, New York City, 1962; Like Other People, Village South Theatre, New York City, 1963; The American Dream and The ZooStory (double-bill), Cherry Lane Theatre, 1963.
• Credits; Producer (with Wilder and Edward Albee), as "Theatre 1964"
• Corruption in the Palace of Justice, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1963; Play andThe Lover (double-bill), then Play, The Two Executioners, and The Dutchman (triple-bill), then The Zoo Story and The Dutchman (double- bill), all Cherry Lane Theatre, 1964; Funnyhouse of a Negro, East End Theatre, 1964; Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Picadilly Theatre, London, 1964; also producer (with Wilder), The Giants' Dance, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1964.
• Producer (with Albee and Wilder), as "Theatre 1965": Tiny Alice, Billy Rose Theatre, 1964; New Playwrights Series I, II, and III, including Up to Thursday, Balls, and Home Free! (Series I), Pigeons and Conerico Was Here to Stay(Series II), and Hunting the Jingo Bird and Lovey (Series III), then (with Frith Banbury) Do Not Pass Go, later The Zoo Story and Krapp's Last Tape (double-bill), all Cherry Lane Theatre, 1965; also producer (with Wilder), That Thing at the Cherry Lane (revue), Cherry Lane Theatre, 1965.
• Producer (with Albee and Wilder), as "Theatre 1966": Happy Days, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1965; Malcolm, Shubert Theatre, New York City, 1966.
• Producer (with Albee and Wilder, unless noted), as "Theatre 1967":A Delicate Balance, Martin Beck Theatre, New York City, 1966; Thornton Wilder's Triple Bill (a program consisting of The Long Christmas Dinner, Queens of France,and The Happy Journey to Trenton and Camden), then The Butter and Egg Man, later Night of the Dunce, all Cherry Lane Theatre, 1966; The Rimers of Eldritch, then The Party on Greenwich Avenue, both Cherry Lane Theatre, 1967; (withWilder and Michael Kasdan) Match-Play and A Party for Divorce (double-bill),Provincetown Playhouse, New York City, 1966; Paul Taylor Dance Company, ANTATheatre, 1966.
• Producer (with Wilder and Charles Woodward, Jr., unless noted), as "Theatre 1968": Johnny No-Trump, Cort Theatre, New York City, 1967; (with Wilder) Everything in the Garden, Plymouth Theatre, New York City, 1967; also producer(with Woodward), The Boys in the Band, Theatre Four, New York City, 1968; director, Private Lives, Theatre De Lys, 1968.
• Producer (with Albee), as "Theatre 1969 Playwrights Repertory": Box and Quotations from Chairman Mao Tse-Tung (double-bill), The Death of Bessie Smithand The American Dream (double-bill), (also director) Krapp's Last Tape andThe Zoo Story (double-bill), and Happy Days, all Studio Arena Theatre, Buffalo, NY, then Billy Rose Theatre, 1968; Also producer (with Albee and Woodward), as "Theatre 1969," The Front Page, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, New York City,1969.
• Producer (with Albee and Woodward), as "Playwrights Unit of Theatre 1970"(also with ANTA), Watercolor and Criss-Crossing (double-bill), ANTA Theatre,1970; producer (with Woodward and Albee), as "Theatre 1971," All Over, Martin Beck Theatre, 1971; producer (with Woodward), as "Theatre 1972," Drat!, McAlpin Rooftop Theatre, New York City, 1971, and (also with Michael Harvey) TheGrass Harp, Martin Beck Theatre, 1971; producer, as "Theatre 1973" (also with Woodward and ANTA), The Last of Mrs. Lincoln, ANTA Theatre, 1972, and (withWoodward) Detective Story, Paramus Playhouse, Paramus, NJ, then Shubert Theatre, Philadelphia, PA, both 1973; also producer (with Woodward), Noel Cowardin Two Keys, Ethel Barrymore Theatre, 1974.
• Producer (with Woodward and Terry Spiegel), P.S.: Your Cat Is Dead!, Studio Arena Theatre, then John Golden Theatre, New York City, both 1975; producer (with Woodward and Wilder), Seascape, Shubert Theatre, 1975, then in Los Angeles; producer, I Was Sitting on My Patio This Guy Appeared I Thought I WasHallucinating, Cherry Lane Theatre, 1977; producer (with Woodward, Robert Fryer, Mary Lea Johnson, and Martin Richards), Sweeney Todd, Uris Theatre, New York City, 1979; producer (with Lester Osterman, Roger Berlind, Marc Howard, Spencer H. Berlin, and Hale Matthews), The Lady from Dubuque, Morosco Theatre,New York City, 1980; producer (with Woodward and David Bixler), Home Front,Royale Theatre, New York City, 1985.
• Credits; MAJOR TOURS; PRODUCER
• Auntie Mame (two companies), U.S. cities, 1957-59.
• (with Clinton Wilder and Sometimes, Inc.) Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, U.S. and Canadian cities, 1964-65.
• A Delicate Balance, U.S. cities, 1967.
• (with Charles Woodward, Jr.) The Boys in the Band (two companies), U.S. cities, 1969.
• (with Woodward) Noel Coward in Two Keys, U.S. cities, 1974.
• Credits; PRINCIPAL FILM WORK
• Executive assistant, Citizen Kane, RKO, 1941.
• Also served as dialogue director for several films, including The Voice of the Turtle, Warner Brothers, 1947.
• Credits; PRINCIPAL RADIO APPEARANCES; SERIES
• Regular, Mercury Theatre on the Air, CBS, 1938.
• Writings;STAGE
• Adaptor (with Richard Whorf and Jose Ferrer), Volpone, City Center Theatre, New York City, 1948.

Further Reference

OBITUARIES AND OTHER SOURCES:

• New York Times, January 10, 1989.
• Variety, January 18-24, 1989.