Occupation Playwright Plays Tom Paine, Elizabeth I Role Playwright | Name Paul Foster Genre Theatre | |
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Born October 15, 1931 (age 92)
Penns Grove, New Jersey ( 1931-10-15 ) Awards Guggenheim Fellowship for Creative Arts, US & Canada | ||
Paul Roose-Evans Foster (born October 15, 1931 in Penns Grove, New Jersey) is an American playwright, theater director, and producer. He is a founding member and the first president of La MaMa, E.T.C. (Experimental Theatre Club).
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Life
When Foster was 21 he came to New York City to study law. There he met Ellen Stewart, a fashion designer hoping to open her own boutique. In 1962, Foster agreed to help Stewart with her boutique in return for being allowed to use its basement as a theater, "but Stewart's enthusiasm for the theater project quickly eclipsed her own initial idea for the boutique", and the La Mama theater project was born.
Plays
Foster is the author of 18 plays produced around the world, including Elizabeth I and Satyricon, as well as the libretto and lyrics for the musical Silver Queen Saloon.
Foster has won numerous awards, including Rockefeller and Guggenheim Fellowships, National Endowment for the Arts and British Arts Council Award.
Fourteen books of his plays are published, and he is the subject of four books about his plays.