Josephine Abady


Josephine R. "Josie" Abady was an American stage director, film director, and producer.

Education

Abady graduated from Syracuse University and earned her MFA from Florida State University.

Theatrical career

Abady taught theater at Bennington College and was head of the theater program at Hampshire College in Amherst, Massachusetts before she began her professional career as the artistic director of the Berkshire Theater Festival. She opened the season at the Cleveland Play House with a revival of Born Yesterday, starring Ed Asner and Madeline Kahn, a production that moved to Broadway.

Film and TV work

Abady also did film and TV work, including, with the assistance provided by an American Film Institute grant, To Catch a Tiger, a short film inspired by the life of Nina Friedman Abady, Abady's own mother.
She later co-produced a TV remake of A Raisin in the Sun, which starred Esther Rolle and Danny Glover.

Last years

Despite her advanced breast cancer, she was active during the last years of her life, until her death, at her home in Manhattan, aged 52.

Affiliations