Ed Wilson (1927-2023)

We fondly remember Professor Edwin Wilson, our distinguished colleague and department chairperson.  Ed was always active in the New York theatre community and participated in many of its institutions, especially those devoted to supporting promising young playwrights. He established Hunter Playwrights which produced new plays here at Hunter.  Ed was part of the team of Hunter arts faculty who created the interdisciplinary course Explorations in the Arts. While on our faculty, he was also theatre critic for the Wall Street Journal, served on the Pulitzer Prize Drama Jury, and was a member of the Tony Nominating Committee.  Ed was a trustee and board chair of TDF and served on the boards of the Susan Smith Blackburn Prize, and the John Golden Fund. He hosted 90 half hour television interviews with many theater artists which appeared on CUNY-TV and PBS stations around the country.  Ed was a prolific fund-raiser for our department and for the CUNY Graduate Center.

 

Perhaps his most significant contribution was the many theatre textbooks he wrote, often in collaboration with Alvin Goldfarb, an alum of our graduate program.  His book The Theater Experience changed the paradigm for the teaching of Introduction to Theatre classes and has  had a lasting impact on students across the United States.