May 17, 2007 | Read Time: 1 minute
NEW BOOKS
Angels in the American Theater: Patrons, Patronage, and Philanthropy
edited by Robert A. Schanke
“Angels — theater investors and backers with money — have a tremendous impact on what happens on stage,” writes Robert A. Schanke, professor emeritus of theater at Central College, in an introduction to this book on philanthropy in theater. “Angels often determine not only what is performed but also what is produced, even what is conceived.” Half the essays in this collection tell stories of individual patrons of the arts — Otto Kahn, Alice De Lamar, the sisters Alice and Irene Lewisohn, and others — and the second half describes some of the most important contributions from institutions, including the Ford Foundation, the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust, and the MacArthur Foundation. A chapter on David Geffen, a billionaire movie, music, and theater producer, and his $183-million foundation suggests that “coming to terms with his gay identity was the key to his early philanthropic gestures,” including giving millions to AIDS charities and to theaters. With his “deep pockets,” Mr. Schanke writes, Mr. Geffen called on Mel Brooks to make The Producers into a Broadway musical, founded a large theater in Los Angeles, and produced huge hits like Cats and Little Shop of Horrors. He directs all his income to his foundation, which supports HIV/AIDS causes, civil liberties, arts and culture, and Jewish life. Despite nagging “predictions of cutbacks, scale-downs, compromise, and doom,” the American theater is still strong, writes the editor. “Angels make it so.”
Publisher: Southern Illinois University Press, 1915 University Press Drive, MC 6806, Carbondale, Ill. 62901; (618) 453-2281; fax (618) 453-1221; http://www.siu.edu/~siupress; 315 pages; $35; ISBN 0-8093-2747-3.
