Table of Contents

Restrictions on access

Unrestricted access.

Source

Gift, 1994.

Citation

[after identification of item(s)], Alan Schneider - Samuel Beckett collection, Archives and Manuscripts, John J. Burns Library, Boston College

Biographical Note

Alan Schneider was born in a suburb of Kharkov, Ukraine on November 28, 1917, the year of the Russian Revolution. On July 4, 1923 Schneider and his family emigrated to American. Schneider grew up in Brooklyn, Connecticut and Maryland as his father sought positions as a medical doctor, eventually specializing in tuberculosis treatment.

Schneider attended Johns Hopkins University and originally intended to study theoretical physics before transferring to the University of Wisconsin to study journalism. However, once in Madison, he began actively to pursue the theatre. In 1940 he attended Cornell where he received an MA in Literature and the Dramatic Arts. He taught at Catholic University before helping to found Studio 63 in New York in 1947. In 1956 he agreed to direct the American premier of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot. This began a lifelong artistic partnership with Beckett that lasted until Schneider's death in 1984.

Source: Schneider, Alan, Entrances, New York: Viking, 1985.

Scope and Content Note

Composed mainly of correspondence between American stage director Alan Schneider and Samuel Beckett. There is additional correspondence between Schneider, Thornton Wilder, and others, as well as other notes and other correspondence of Beckett. The collection also includes manuscripts and other material relating to Beckett's Film and a series of translations from Waiting for Godot by Thornton Wilder.

Arrangement Note

Organized into two series: (1) Correspondence and (2) Manuscripts.

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Selected Search Terms

Personal Names

Albee, Edward, 1928-

Beckett, Samuel, 1906- --Correspondence.

Beckett, Samuel, 1906- --Dramatic production.

Beckett, Samuel, 1906- --Dramatic works.

Genet, Jean, 1910-

Pinter, Harold, 1930-

Schneider, Alan--Correspondence.

Whitelaw, Billie.

Cronyn, Hume.

Schneider, Alan, collector.

Wilder, Thornton, 1897-1975.

Topical Terms

Authors, Irish--20th century--Correspondence.

Dramatists, Irish--20th century--Correspondence.

Theater--Production and direction--Sources.

Theater of the absurd--History--Sources.

Theatrical producers and directors--United States--Correspondence.