Charles Hull, Co-Founder of TheatreWorks USA, Passes Away at 92

According to an obituary in the New York Times, TheatreWorks USA co-founder Charles Hull passed away on April 14 at the age of 92. He is survived by his wife Ann (O'Shaughnessy) Hull, daughters Hilary Hull Gupta and Alizon Hull Reggioli, and three grandchildren.

Charles Hull was born Karl Rudolf Horvat in Vienna on March 3, 1931. After fleeing Nazis with his family at age 7 to settle in Orange, NJ, he attended Lehigh University and got a degree in business administration in 1953. He served as a lieutenant in the Air Force in England until 1955, and worked a sales job at a steel company in Ohio shortly before moving to New York to become an actor and study with Lee Strasberg.

He met TheatreWorks co-founder Jay Harnick while performing in a production of Young Abe Lincoln, which Harnick directed. The musical ran Off-Broadway before moving to Broadway for only 27 performances, despite excellent reviews.

After the show closed, Harnick and Hull decided to book the show in schools around the state. The company they formed, originally called Performing Arts Repertory Theater, was later changed to Theaterworks USA.

Theatreworks USA is America's largest and most prolific professional not-for-profit theatre for young and family audiences. Since 1961, Theatreworks USA has enlightened, entertained, and instructed more than 72 million people in 49 states and Canada, now performing for about four million people annually. Every year, the company tours approximately 16 shows from its ever-growing repertoire of 115 plays and musicals. In addition, Theatreworks USA also has an extensive multi-cultural guest artist roster, including storytellers, puppeteers, poets, and magicians. Under the direction of Barbara Pasternack (Artistic Director) and Ken Arthur (Managing Director), Theatreworks USA is also one of the most honored theaters of its kind. It is the only children's theatre to receive both a Drama Desk and a Lucille Lortel Award. In addition, Theatreworks USA was the recipient of a 2001 Jonathan Larson Performing Arts Foundation Award, and in May 2000, The Actors Fund of American bestowed its Medal of Honor upon its founders, Jay Harnick and Charles Hull.

Read the full New York Times obituary here.

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