Remembering Robert Cohen: Director, Educator, Writer Extraordinaire
Robert Cohen, who directed numerous times at the Festival between 1985 and 2008, passed away on November 15, 2024. He was beloved and revered by his Festival collegues who remember him an artist and master teacher, inspirational, enthusiastic, and beyond compare.
Born in Washington, D.C., Cohen set foot on his path towards his theatrical career as a camp counselor who “needing to supply the nightly entertainment for a crowd of smart-alecky Jewish kids with high expectations”, produced and directed skits “sometimes playing in everything from the heights of Saint Joan to the very bottom of the skit barrel.” It was said he “took to the stage like a spaniel to water” (L.A. Times obituary).
He attended Dartmouth College and UC Berkeley, and went on to receive his Doctor of Fine Arts from the Yale School of Drama. He taught for five decades at UC Irvine where he was the founding chair of the drama department and directed over a hundred productions at UCI, Utah Shakes, Colorado Shakespeare Festival, and other theatres all over the country and world.
Cohen was also a playwright, drama critic, translator, acting theorist, and prominent author. He gave lectures, guest acting classes, workshops, and conferences around the world. He published eleven works, with several in multiple editions, including the double-volume Acting One/Acting Two, Acting Professionally, Acting in Shakespeare, Creative Play Direction, Working Together in Theatre, and Acting Power: the 21st Century Edition. He also published translations of classical plays, two anthologies of world-famous plays, nine plays of his own, thirty-five journal essays, four hundred-plus theatre reviews, and a personal memoir entitled Falling Into Theatre – and Finding Myself. (UCI School of the Arts website and UCI Library).
Executive Managing Director Michael Bahr praised him, saying, “Bob Cohen literally wrote ‘the book’ on acting and how to teach it, perhaps the most authoritative and popular texts for acting classes. As a theatre educator, I utilized his books to improve my classroom and inspire my own techniques and students.”
Cohen directed multiple productions here at the Festival, including Antony and Cleopatra (1985), The Winter’s Tale (1989), Macbeth (1996), King Lear (1999), and The School for Wives (2008).
Actor Betsy Mugavero who played Agnes in The School for Wives and was a student of Cohen’s expressed her gratitude for him. “I am so fortunate to have been taught and directed by the great Robert Cohen. His coaching and thoughtful responses to my efforts transformed me as an actor and theater professional. He gave me permission to be me through the prism of classical work and set my life on a course of no regrets.”
Bahr added, “His productions, in the mid 80’s, at the Festival were foundational to me as a student. I was so happy when he returned for many years in the 90’s and later in 2008. I have personally been blessed and learned from his example. What an honor it has been to the Festival to have Robert Cohen artistry as a part of our legacy.”
