Copeland Receives Prestigious Stagebill Award

Most Oberlin students know Roger Copeland as simply a professor of Theater. They may have attended one of his fabulously inspiring and captivating lectures, like the one he gave last semester on the work of Julie Taymor, the artist, puppeteer and Oberlin graduate who directed Titus and Broadway's The Lion King.

But Copeland's prowess is not limited to Oberlin. He was recently recognized for his cover feature in the January issue of American Theatre, entitled "Cabaret at the End of the World." The article is a positive review of Sam Mendes' direction of the '60s musical Cabaret. In it Copeland argues that the critics of Mendes' "razor-edged revival" have missed the director's point.

Copeland was one of three winners of this award, which was presented by Stagebill, a national organization that publishes programs for Broadway and off-Broadway productions and other major performing arts institutions all over the country.

This is the first year that Stagebill has presented these awards, and the introduction of the series marks the 75th anniversary of the organization's existence. The premise of the awards is to "recognize U. S. writers whose prose most provocatively and stylishly illuminates the performing arts experience" in the previous year. The other awardees were Albert Innaurato, for his behind-the-scenes look at contemporary opera, and Kyle Gann, for his article on string quartet innovations.

The award was presented on Feb. 7 in New York City, while Professor Copeland was still in London, where he is teaching for the Danenburg Oberlin-in-London program. In the acceptance speech he wrote for the award ceremony, he thanked his "long-time editor at American Theatre, Jim O'Quinn, for allowing me to write in my own voice."

"I'm eager to write for a broad-based, and diversified reading public rather than a tiny cabal of inbred, jargon-spouting specialists," he wrote. "I like to aim for that vanishing middle-ground between journalism and scholarship; but it's becoming harder and harder to do that these days."

Well, it may be difficult, but it certainly has not hampered his career as a writer for major publications. In addition to writing for American Theatre, his articles have appeared in the New York Times, The Village Voice, Dance Theatre Journal, The New Republic, Partisan Review and many others. He has published over 150 articles about dance, theater, film, television and still photography.

His book What is Dance? was named Best Dance Book of 1983 by the Dance Perspectives Foundation and paperback of the month by the Times of London. He received a fellowship from the National Endowment for the Humanities for his forthcoming Merce Cunningham and the Modernizing of Modern Dance.

He has received fellowships from the Rockefeller foundation as well, and worked as a consultant for the National Foundation for the Arts "Dance in America" series on PBS, the Brooklyn Academy of Music's Next Wave Festival and the eight-part television series "Dancing."

On the international front, he has given lectures on the performing arts in China (twice), Hong Kong, the Philippines, Singapore, Amsterdam, Copenhagen and Helsinki, as well as speaking at the Exodus Festival in Slovenia and the "Confluences" conference at the University of Cape Town in South Africa.

Stagebill's award was not the first time he has been recognized for his critical writing. He has been a recipient of the John Gassner Prize for Theatre Criticism, and in 1990 was a finalist for the George Jean Nathan Award for the best American dramatic essay, a lengthy and very impressive résumé indeed.

With all that he has accomplished, the Stagebill award is like throwing another pebble on the rock-heap. Nevertheless, it is indeed a significant tribute to the scholarship of Roger Copeland.

In his speech, Copeland cited Irish playwright Brendan Behan's comparison of the critic to a eunuch in a harem: "He sees it done every night, but he can't do it himself." "There's a lot of truth to that," wrote Copeland, "but it's still awfully nice to receive some public recognition for whatever it is we do do."

Back in the day: Theater professor Roger Copeland reminisces on director Sam Mendes. (photo by courtesy of Oberlin Online)