Lawrence Kornfeld is a three-time Obie-winning director, co-founder of two Off-Off-Broadway theaters, Judson Poets’ Theater and Theater for a New City, and Assistant Director for The Living Theatre.  From 1974-1976 he was Director of the Theatre Program at The New York State Council on the Arts.  As an educator he was a visiting director and lecturer (1980-1982) then was appointed Dean of Theatre Arts and Film and Professor of Theatre Arts (1983-86) at SUNY Purchase College.  From 1982-83 he was Professor of Directing at the Yale School of Drama.  The Obies for Distinguished Direction were given for the following plays directed at Judson Poets’ Theater: WHAT HAPPENED (1963), DRACULA SABBAT (1971), and LISTEN TO ME (1974).  He has directed more than 140 Broadway, Regional, Off and Off-Off-Broadway and productions including:  THE GREAT AMERICAN DESERT (1961), MAN IS MAN (1962), THE NATIVITY PLAYS OF THE YORK MYSTERIES (1962), MALCAUCHON (1962), VAUDEVILLE SKIT (1962), JOURMAD (1962), THE CONTEST(1962), SERVICE FOR JOSEPH AXMINISTER (1963), WAR ENGINE (1963), HAGAR AND ISHMAEL(1963), MISS RIGHT (1963), WHAT HAPPENED (1963, 1966), HURRAH, IT’S LEWIS CARROLL DAY(1963), BILLYGOAT EDDIE (1964), HOME MOVIES/SOFTLY CONSIDER THE NEARNESS (1964, 1966), LEONCE AND LENA (1964), FOR MADELEINE RENAUD (1964), SING HO FOR A BEAR (1964), STRINGGAME (1965), PROMENADE (1965, 1966, 1969-70), DEVICES (1965), HARMONY (1965), ISTANBOUL(1965), PLAY I, PLAY II, PLAY III (1965), THE PELICAN (1966), JONAH (1966), GORILLA QUEEN (1967), IN CIRCLES (1968), PEACE (1969), TURDS IN HELL (1970), DRACULA SABBAT (1971), WANTED (1972), A LOOK AT THE FIFTIES (1972), LISTEN TO ME (1974), THE MAKING OF AMERICANS (1989).

Returning from Dachau, where he was stationed with the American Occupied Forces, Lawrence Kornfeld had become obsessed with the Holocaust, the Nazis, and had developed PTSD.  His therapist, Laura Perls, a renowned Gestalt therapist, introduced him to Julian Beck and Judith Malina who were then creating The Living Theatre.  Soon Kornfeld was assistant to Julian Beck, became an Assistant Director and General Manager of The Living Theatre.  Originally Kornfeld’s passions were music and his major, comparative literature, but his time with the Becks made him realize he was an artist and wanted to live the artist’s life.  And, Commercial Theater was a step down!  The need was for a living theater!  The Living Theatre was a poets’ theater and it was an easy next step for Kornfeld when, in 1960, he left to join the Judson Poets’ Theater just beginning to take shape.  Joel Oppenheim, a Beat Poet, was making his move away from The Living Theatre and hoped Kornfeld would be equally intrigued by this new undertaking spearheaded by Al Carmines, hired by Senior Minister Howard Moody, to create a theater in the church.  Kornfeld’s knowledge of music and literature broke new ground for upcoming playwrights like Maria Irene Fornes, Rochelle Owens, Rosalind Drexler and the works of Gertrude Stein.  Al Carmines wrote the music and lyrics while Kornfeld curated the plays and directed, and together they created legendary Off-Off-Broadway history.  In 1971 Kornfeld went on to co-found Theater for a New City with Crystal Field, George Bartenieff, and Theo Barnes.  The four had met at Judson Poets’ Theater and broke off to establish their new community centered poets’ theater at Westbeth.  In 1980 Lawrence Kornfeld went to SUNY Purchase as a visiting director and lecturer.  In 1982 he became Professor of Directing at Yale School of Drama and returned to Purchase appointed Dean of Theatre Arts and Film, as well as Professor of Theatre Arts until 1986.