Alan Mandell

Alan Mandell (Francis Biddle, Trying) is known for his roles in the works of Shakespeare, Beckett, and others, as well as productions on and off Broadway, throughout California and in Europe. He acted, directed, and was General Manager at both the San Francisco Actor's Workshop and the Repertory Theatre of Lincoln Center. After co-founding the San Quentin Drama Workshop, he toured France and Germany with the original productions of Samuel Beckett's Waiting for Godot and Endgame, directed by the playwright, and then performed Endgame at Dublin's Abbey Theatre, and in London and Italy. He subsequently re-created Beckett's direction for the filming of Endgame, in which he played the role of Nagg. 

He was Consulting Director for Los Angeles Actors' Theatre where he directed and acted in Beckett's Company, as well as Rockaby, Ohio Impromptu, Footfalls, Charles Marowitz's Artaud at Rodez, and Harold Lieberman's The Throne of Straw. He also served as Consulting Director for Los Angeles Theater Center, directing A Rich Full Life, The Birthday Party, Happy Days, The Caretaker, and Strindberg's The Dance of Death, and appearing in The Film Society, Antony and Cleopatra, Sarcophagus, and The Illusion. 

While at LATC, he inaugurated a major Poetry Literary Series featuring such poets as Allen Ginsberg, Yevgeny Yevtushenko, W.S. Merwin, Lawrence Ferlinghetti, Adrienne Rich, and Nobel Prize-winner Czeslaw Milosz, among others. He co-produced a major revival of A Streetcar Named Desire, starring Rosemary Harris at Lincoln Center, and Lois Nettleton on Broadway and at the Kennedy Center, as well as the Off-Broadway production of I am Woman starring Viveca Lindfors. Among his countless stage appearances are Prospero in The Tempest and Shylock The Merchant of Venice at The Grove Shakespeare Festival, Denial at the Long Wharf, The Road to Mecca and The Cherry Orchard at South Coast Repertory, the title role in King Lear at Orange County Shakespeare Festival, The Cherry Orchard at the Mark Taper Forum, The Royal Family and 12 Angry Men at the Ahmanson Theatre, and He Hunts at the Geffen Playhouse.  

His film roles include Hedwig and the Angry Inch, The Marrying Man, Endgame, Midnight Witness, and Shortbus. He appeared on television in Blind Ambition, Dark Victory, Enemies, 79 Park Avenue, and Eight is Enough. 

Mr. Mandell is the recipient of LA Weekly's first Lifetime Achievement Award.

August, 2007