The primary Stages Off-Broadway Oral history Project

Celebrating the visionaries who created New York's vibrant Off- and Off-Off-Broadway theater.

Walter and Georgia Hadler

Walter and Georgia Hadler

Actor, Playwright, Director

Interviewed on: Wednesday, July 15, 2015
Location: Primary Stages Offices
Interviewed by: Sally Plass
Interview #48
"People want to know who they are and why they’re here… theatre is a good place to ask [that question] because it gives you a place from which to work with others on this question. It gives you a chance to be honest in your existence."
Walter and Georgia Hadler Highlights
Video Length: 6 minutes, 10 seconds
Walter and Georgia Hadler Interview Part One
Video Length: 1 hour, 1 minute
Walter and Georgia Hadler Interview Part Two
Video Length: 1 hour, 41 minutes

Walter Hadler is an Off-Broadway actor, director, and playwright. His acting credits include: PATRICK-THE FIRST (1965), SERJEANT MUSGRAVE’S DANCE (1966), THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH (1967), THE HAWK (1968), and THE UNSEEN HAND (1982). Hadler’s credits as a writer include: SOLARIUM (1968), THE WATERWORKS AT LINCOLN (1969), THE SILVER BEE (1974), and THE AIR CONDITIONED BEACH (1984). His directing credits include: MEATBALLS and CARTOON. His play Casa Nueva was performed in the opening season of the Padua Hills Playwrights Festival in La Verne, CA.

Hadler was born in Houston, Pennsylvania. Upon seeing Peter Brook’s production of King Lear while he was serving in the Air Force, he was inspired to get involved in theatre and later moved to New York City. It was in New York that Walter met Georgia; both were working closely with Ralph Cook, the founder of Theatre Genesis on the Lower East Side. Walter Hadler went on to run the theater with Murray Mednick and Sam Shepard. Shortly thereafter, in 1978, Theatre Genesis unfortunately burned down, abruptly ending Hadler’s time there.

Mentioned in Interview

Peter Brook, Charles Durning, Zero Mostel, Lanford Wilson, Tennessee Williams, Arthur Miller, Sarah Kane, Robert Kalfin, Lee Strasberg, Stella Adler, Harold Clurman, Michael Kahn, Peter Schumann, Robert Heide, Murray Mednick, Joseph Papp, Paul Hecht, Ralph Cook, Leonard Melfi, Antonin Artaud, Sam Shepard, Joe Cino, Harvey Fierstein, Charles Mee, Johnny Dodd, Andy Warhol, Michael Smith, Ellen Stewart, Provincetown Playhouse, Negro Ensemble Company, St. Mark’s Church, Artist Repertory Theater, Cell Block Theater, Caffe Cino, La MaMa E.T.C., The Living Theatre, Theatre Genesis, Actors’ Playhouse, THE INTERROGATION ROOM, THE MADNESS OF LADYBRIGHT, A STREETCAR NAMED DESIRE, THE BRIG, THE KITCHEN, HENRY V, COWBOYS, THE ROCK GARDEN, THE RIMERS OF ELDRITCH, THE DEER KILL

SEARCH THE DATABASE