M. Edgar Rosenblum Awards

In 2010, Irondale created the M. Edgar Rosenblum Awards to honor service to theater and the ensemble.

2011 Recipients
Crystal Field, Executive Artistic Director, Theater for the New City,
Carlton Turner, Executive Director, Alternate ROOTS
Artistic Director, M.U.G.A.B.E.E.
and the Office of the Brooklyn Borough President.
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2010 Recipients
Barbara Hauben Ross, Chair Emeritus, Irondale
Phil Lilienthal, President, Global Camps Africa.
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M. Edgar Rosenblum

Theatre producer & arts consultant. At the time of his death on April 18th, as executive director of The California International Theatre Festival (CITF), he was finalizing work on the second season.

Born in Brooklyn, NY, graduate of Midwood HS, attended Lafayette & Bard College(s). Opened The Polari Gallery in New York City and later in Woodstock, NY. He began producing theatre readings and folk concerts in the Gallery. One of the readings, a compilation of writings about childhood, When I was a Child, went on to tour colleges and was presented off-Broadway at the 42nd St. Theatre. In 1960 he took over the Woodstock Playhouse and built The Polari Gallery on the Playhouse grounds. From 1960-1972 as owner/producer of The Playhouse, he presented programs of theatre from the world's classics mixed with recent Broadway hits, a series of folk concerts and children's shows. One season rotated productions between Woodstock and the Hyde Park Playhouse. The Polari Gallery mounted one man and group shows of local and nationally known artists. In the winter months he toured as a stage manger for The Joffery Ballet and a production of the Britten opera Turn Of The Screw with Patricia Neway. In Woodstock he founded the Hudson Valley Repertory Company with the goal of presenting year-around theatre productions in the Mid-Hudson Valley.

1970-1996 he served as the Executive Director of Long Wharf Theatre. Edgar, together with Artistic Director Arvin Brown, brought Long Wharf to international prominence with distinguished productions of world and American premieres, revivals and classics. Many Long Wharf productions transferred to Broadway, Off-Broadway, television and other regional theatre enabling the work of Long Wharf to reach a larger audience. During his tenure, Long Wharf Theatre was the recipient of many awards, including: The Jujamcyn Theatres Award for development of creative talent in the theatre, Obie Award for Ensemble performance, Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre and many Tony awards & nominations for Long Wharf productions transferred to New York, and The Pulitzer Prize for Drama to productions of The Shadow Box and The Gin Game. In the summer of 1991, he lead a delegation to The People's Republic of China creating an alliance between Long Wharf Theatre and The Shanghai People's Art Theatre. Edgar Rosenblum and Arvin Brown returned to China in 1993 to mount a production by Susan Kim (in Chinese) of Amy Tan's The Joy Luck Club. The production toured China and won accolades at the 1994 Hong Kong Festival.

Edgar was the Founding President of the National Corporate Theatre Fund, a former President of LORT (League of Resident Theatres), and served three terms on The Board of Trustees of the American Arts Alliance, (two as Chairman). He was a member of The Board of Directors of The Greater New Haven Chamber of Commerce, taught graduate classes in theatre administration at the Yale School of Drama and in 1994 he was honored with an "Arts Award" from the New Haven Arts Council for his contribution to the cultural life of New Haven. He was a consultant for FEDAPT (The Foundation for Extension and Development of American Professional Theatre) and served as consultant to the Abby Theatre (National Theatre of Ireland) and as consultant to the arts councils of Connecticut, New York, Massachusetts, Ohio, Rhode Island and Alaska.

He produced on and off Broadway as well as for national and international tours and worked as a consultant and administrator to theatres and arts institutions throughout the United States and abroad.

He served as Executive Director for Theatre for a New Audience and as producing consultant at Berkshire Theatre Festival. He was a site visitor for The National Endowment for the Arts, served on it's Theatre Grant review panel and was an Auditor for the New York State Council on the Arts.

M. Edgar Rosenblum 1932-2010, was executive Director of Long Wharf Theatre when Jim Niesen, Barbara Mackenzie-Wood and Terry Greiss, the founders of Irondale Ensemble Project were hired as actors in 1977. According to Jim Niesen, "Working at Long Wharf in a tremendously supportive creative environment, gave us a model of how we wanted to keep working throughout our careers." Terry Greiss said, "Jim and I have been working as a team for 27 years. Although we didn't set out to model ourselves after Arvin Brown, Long Wharf's Artistic Director, and Edgar, it was this important and successful example of partnership that inspired us early in our careers." Barbara Mackenzie-Wood, now Head of the Acting /Music Theatre Program at Carnegie Mellon University said, "Edgar was a mentor for us all. When we started Irondale, he was always willing to give us advice or talk to our board. He was proud of what we created and we were always quick to acknowledge our roots."

Arvin Brown on M. Edgar Rosenblum

When Edgar and I left Long Wharf to pursue our independent lives we were bringing down the curtain on what I've since been told was the longest running partnership in the American theatre. In the last months since Edgar's sudden passing, and as the shock has begun to wear off, I've found myself reflecting again and again on the depth of our relationship, and what made it work so solidly both in our professional and personal lives.

First, Edgar was honest. Oh, he could certainly be cagey in a negotiation, but when you wanted to know Edgar's true opinion you got it. And his negotiating skills were used most often for the protection of artists; sometimes it seemed as if he almost stood alone among producers in the fervor of his belief that artists should be properly paid.

Second, Edgar had respect for others' abilities and was willing to allow everyone around him to do his or her work. He was not a micromanager. He honored, as few producers might, the importance of borders; he crossed willingly into my terrain if asked, and that invitation came frequently, but never trespassed when certain pressures had to be met by me alone.

Third, he was adventurous. If he ever sensed in me a momentary artistic timidity he would be the first to coax me forward, and if money was at the root of my hesitation his first instinct was almost always to assure me that the money would be found. That was a pressure that he had to meet, and I honored his borders as he did mine.

I could go on and on about the talents that made Edgar one of the best producers in America. Yet underneath his skill lay the quality that more than any other bound me to him as his colleague and friend, and that was the intensity of his feeling. Edgar genuinely loved the arts, and no art more than the theatre, and so he loved those who spent their creative lives in that medium. I was a lucky recipient of that love and loyalty and I returned both in kind. I believe that defines the profundity of our partnership.

Arvin Brown is an American theatre and television director and was the Artistic Director of the Long Wharf Theatre in New Haven, Connecticut for 30 years.