Gene Feist (January , â€" March , , New York City) was an American
playwright, theater director and co-founder of the Roundabout Theater
Company. He authored plays or adaptations, of which two were
published by Samuel French Inc. â€" James Joyce's Dublin and The Lady
from Maxim's.Feist was born Eugene Feist in Brooklyn, the son of
Hattie (Fishbein), a beautician, and Henry Feist, a bar owner and,
later, a cab driver. Along with his identical twin brother Harold,
Feist grew up in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father
owned and operated a bar in Coney Island at Seagate and Surf Avenue
named Indian Village but referred to as "The Bucket of Blood" due to
its rough clientele. Feist's love of reading made him a target of
teasing during his youth. He attended a vocational high school for
newspaper printing press operators. After graduating he joined the
United States Army Air Forces where he was trained as an airplane
mechanic but quickly moved to a post as editor of the Biggs (Texas)
Air Field newspaper, "Bigg Stuff". During World War II he was
stationed in the Philippines and later in occupied Japan, writing for
other military newspapers and serving as a librarian.After the war he
attended Carnegie Tech, which later became Carnegie Mellon University.
There he became a close friend of the artist and fellow student Andy
Warhol.With his wife Kathe, known professionally as stage actress
"Elizabeth Owens", he revived the New Theater in Nashville, Tennessee,
and, in , Gene and Kathe Feist founded the Roundabout Theatre Company,
first located in the basement of a supermarket building owned by the
housing development in Manhattan where the Feists lived. Owens
appeared in more than plays over the next years. Gene Feist remains
the Roundabout's founding director.
playwright, theater director and co-founder of the Roundabout Theater
Company. He authored plays or adaptations, of which two were
published by Samuel French Inc. â€" James Joyce's Dublin and The Lady
from Maxim's.Feist was born Eugene Feist in Brooklyn, the son of
Hattie (Fishbein), a beautician, and Henry Feist, a bar owner and,
later, a cab driver. Along with his identical twin brother Harold,
Feist grew up in the Coney Island neighborhood of Brooklyn. His father
owned and operated a bar in Coney Island at Seagate and Surf Avenue
named Indian Village but referred to as "The Bucket of Blood" due to
its rough clientele. Feist's love of reading made him a target of
teasing during his youth. He attended a vocational high school for
newspaper printing press operators. After graduating he joined the
United States Army Air Forces where he was trained as an airplane
mechanic but quickly moved to a post as editor of the Biggs (Texas)
Air Field newspaper, "Bigg Stuff". During World War II he was
stationed in the Philippines and later in occupied Japan, writing for
other military newspapers and serving as a librarian.After the war he
attended Carnegie Tech, which later became Carnegie Mellon University.
There he became a close friend of the artist and fellow student Andy
Warhol.With his wife Kathe, known professionally as stage actress
"Elizabeth Owens", he revived the New Theater in Nashville, Tennessee,
and, in , Gene and Kathe Feist founded the Roundabout Theatre Company,
first located in the basement of a supermarket building owned by the
housing development in Manhattan where the Feists lived. Owens
appeared in more than plays over the next years. Gene Feist remains
the Roundabout's founding director.
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