George Ferencz


George Ferencz is an American theater director, producer, and teacher of Hungarian descent who first rose to fame with his productions of Eugene O’Neill’s The Hairy Ape and Dynamo. A major name in American theater, he is renowned for his innovative stagings of plays and musicals by Sam Shepard, Eugene O'Neill, Amiri Baraka. He has taught Theater at Columbia University, Yale University and New York University. He co-founded the Impossible Ragtime Theater in 1975 with Pam Mitchell, Ted Story and Cynthia Crane. Ferencz is known for his extensive work with La MaMa Experimental Theatre Club where he was a resident director from 1982 to 2008. He has directed 19 Shepard productions including Shep’N’Rep, Cowboy Mouth, The Tooth of Crime, and Shepard Sets ; the latter began Ferencz’s collaborative partnership with drummer/composer Max Roach. Ferencz’s other Off-and Off-Off-Broadway credits include Does a Tiger Wear a Necktie, Paris Lights, Battery, Money: A Jazz Opera, Harm’s Way, Welcome Back to Salamaca, Conjur Woman, and Prague, 1912.

Biography

Early life

Born in Cleveland, he is the son of George and Anne Ferencz, the eldest of 6 siblings. Wanting to pursue a career as a writer, he became editor of the school newspaper at Padua High, an all-boys school. The first in his family to graduate from college, Ferencz got his degree in theatre from Kent State University. He moved to New York in 1970 and began studying directing with Gene Frankel and then with Carl Weber.
When Ferencz arrived in New York City in 1970, he and his first wife Pamela Mitchell created the Yogi Bear and Huckleberry Hound Roadshow with Tim and Deirdre McDonald, in association with Scollia Productions. Ferencz wrote, directed, and produced the youth theater performances which ran tours of the eastern seaboard and Washington, D.C. area, culminating in a performance at The White House for Pat Nixon and the Children of The Foreign Diplomats. Ferencz garnered his first professional reviews when "The Huckleberry Hound All-Star Review" had a successful three week run at New York City's Beacon Theater.
In the early 1970's, Ferencz directed productions of "Brecht on Brecht" for The All Angel's Players, NYC, Woody Allen's "Don't Drink The Water" and "Play it Again Sam" for the historic Amateur Comedy Club, as well as a series of Agatha Christie mysteries for Narrows Community Theater, which Ferencz made popular when he adapted the mysteries to take place in the Bay Ridge community of Brooklyn.
It was at this time he began to study with Gene Frankel and Carl Weber at The Gene Frankel Workshop located in the Mercer Arts Center. Frankel became an early mentor to Ferencz. "He taught me a director's arrogance: to say no, to say I know what is best for the production," he said of Frankel. At Mercer Arts, Ferencz directed a revival of Megan Terry's "Keep Tightly Closed in a Cool Dry Place." Ferencz was one of a handful of people who survived being inside the storied building on August 3, 1973, the day the Mercer Arts collapsed.

Career

Regionally, he has worked with San Diego Rep, Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Pittsburgh Public, The Cleveland Playhouse, Syracuse Stage, as well as others. A few of Ferencz’s international credits include Percussion Summit, The Lady Aoi
George Ferencz is Co-Founder and Co-Producer of the Impossible Ragtime Theater, and Founder Hispanic-American Music Theatre Lab with musical director Tito Puente