- Born
- Died
- Birth nameMelvin Irwin Shapiro
- Mel Shapiro was born on December 16, 1935 in Brooklyn, New York City, New York, USA. Mel was a director and writer, known for Sammy Stops the World (1979), The Doctors (1963) and The Lay of the Land (1997). Mel was married to Jeanne Paynter. Mel died on December 23, 2024 in Los Angeles, California, USA.
- SpouseJeanne Paynter(? - December 23, 2024) (his death, 2 children)
- Won Broadway's 1972 Tony Award as Best Book (Musical) with collaborator John Guare for "Two Gentlemen of Verona," a show for which he also received a Best Director (Musical) nomination.
- He was the head of graduate acting for the Theatre Department at the University of California, Los Angeles, taught and directed at the Queensland University of Technology's Theatre School in Brisbane, Australia, and at the National Institute of Dramatic Art in Sydney, Australia.
- Mr. Shapiro was a prolific teacher as well, serving as one of the founding members of New York University's Tisch School of the Arts and as the head of the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama.
- Trained at Carnegie-Mellon University.
- Was co-producing director at the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and has worked as guest director at the Hartford Stage Company, the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles (where he directed the American Premiere of Dario Fo's Accidental Death of an Anarchist), the National Playwright's Conference of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center and the Stratford Shakespeare Festival in Canada.
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