Curt Dempster, Founding Director of E.S.T., Dies at 71

Curt Dempster, Founding Artistic Director of Ensemble Studio Theatre, was found dead at his home in New York City today (January 19, 2007). The cause remains undetermined at this time.

Born Frank Curtin Dempster, November 1, 1935 in Detroit, Michigan, Curt Dempster founded the Ensemble Studio Theatre in 1971. Mr. Dempster led EST to prominence as the most influential developmental theatre in the United States.  He produced or developed over 6000 new plays, including those of Arthur Miller, Horton Foote, Wendy Wasserstein, Christopher Durang, David Mamet, Marsha Norman, Frank D. Gilroy and Tennessee Williams.  In 1993, Mr. Dempster was honored by Carnegie Mellon University for his life long commitment to developing new American plays.  

In June of 1994, he accepted the prestigious Village Voice OBIE Award for EST's annual Marathon of New One-Act Plays.  Other awards include the Brandeis University Creative Arts Award, the Drama League Citation, the Outer Critics Circle Award and the American Theatre Wing Annual Award.  He has served on the Board of the Society of the Stage Directors and Choreographers, as a consultant for the New York State Council on the Arts, and the National Endowment for the Arts. As a director, he staged new plays by Joyce Carol Oates, Tennessee Williams, Frank D. Gilroy, Edward Allan Baker and Horton Foote, including critically acclaimed productions of Mr. Foote's Road to the Graveyard and Blind Date.

Described by the New York Times as, "an innovative force in theater," Mr. Dempster has also directed The Crucible by Arthur Miller, The Seagull by Anton Chekov, and an experimental company production of Hamlet with Jon Voight in the title role. During his apprenticeship he served as Assistant Director to Jerome Robbins and Ulu Grossbard.

As an actor, Mr. Dempster appeared on Broadway (Peter Weiss' The Investigation), and in the long-running Off-Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's A View From the Bridge with Robert Duvall and Jon Voight.  He was also featured in the films Desperately Seeking Susan and The Manhattan Project.

As a playwright, Mr. Dempster's work include In Defense of Leonard Peltier, (presented at EST during the 1990-91 season), Déjà Vu, Michigan South, The Only Son, and Mimosa Pudica , which was selected for publication in Best Short Plays 1977.  His screenplay Off Day was produced at the Eugene O'Neill Conference Television Workshop in 1978, the same year he received a writing grant from the Jerome Foundation.  

At the time of his death, Mr. Dempster was teaching acting, directing and playwriting at EST's Institute for Professional Training and Lexington Center for the Arts, and led three labs in New York.

Under Curt Dempster's leadership, EST became a seminal force in the American theatre and the pre-eminent developmental theatre in the country.  As a place of origin it has developed two generations of theatre artists.  Eminent artists, who have taken their place in the forefront of American theatre, have come out of EST.  Playwrights who were first discovered and developed at EST include Richard Greenberg, John Patrick Shanley, Arthur Giron, Jose Rivera, Eduardo Machado, Shirley Lauro, Edward Allan Baker, Cassandra Medley, Susan Kim, Leslie Ayvazian, and many more.  Early support and mid-career replenishment aided the careers of Christopher Durang, Horton Foote, David Ives, David Mamet, Romulus Linney, Frank D. Gilroy, and the late Arthur Miller and Wendy Wasserstein. Curt developed and produced many plays of each of these playwrights, thereby providing them with a life-long home base from which to develop a major body of work.  This element is a core principle of EST's work.  

Over the last thirty-five years, under his stewardship, EST has provided the American theatre with hundreds of gifted professionals.  The organization has had a major influence on new, emerging, and established writers, and has helped to determine the course of both non-profit and commercial theatre in America. No other theatre in this country can claim the same level of excellence, volume of work, outcomes, integrity, and clarity of purpose, and non-stop critical acclaim, which characterizes EST's legendary history as a pioneering force.  EST has the largest standing artistic company in the world, has produced more plays, and developed more artists than any other theatre organization in history.

The Membership, Board, Members Council and Staff of Ensemble Studio Theatre are deeply saddened by his passing and remain committed to continuing Curt's mission to develop and replenish the American Theatre.

Arrangements will be announced at a later date.