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Lance Hewett Obituary
Date of Birth:
Monday, August 11th, 1947
Date of Death:
Friday, February 6th, 2015
Funeral Home:
325 West 14th Street
New York City, New York, UNITED STATES
10014
Obituary:
Lance Hewett (1947-2015), Director, Actor. Lance began his career as a child puppeteer in southern Jersey, cajoling his uncle to build him a puppet stage, writing the scripts and performing everything himself, and bribing his friends to attend his shows. He moved to Kansas as a teenager and immediately started performing in local productions that ranged from singing “Mack the Knife” in Threepenny Opera to playing the Boy in Waiting for Godot. Upon graduation he enrolled in the University of Kansas, studying Theatre and Voice, and in the summers was one of the founding members of Creede Repertory Theatre, now 50 years later the State Theatre of Colorado. He went on to Wichita State University and then received his Equity Card at the St. Louis Municipal Opera, acting with the likes of Chita Rivera, Joel Grey and Milton Berle. Moving to New York, he worked as a professional actor, triumphing as Rutledge in 1776 with Howard da Silva and touring A Christmas Carol with John Carradine, and in regional theaters around the country. His career path eventually shifted, and he directed the first ever book musical at an Atlantic City casino, a 7-month run of “Guys and Dolls” at Resorts International. Other directing gigs around the country followed, but he named as among his favorites 6 productions at Fordham University. In 1996 he founded, along with Bryan Williams and Annette Triquère, Isle of Shoals Productions, Inc., a 501(c)(3) not-for-profit theatre company, dedicated to blending drama and music in unique, adventurous ways. Among the dozens of company productions he directed (and for which he usually designed sets and costumes) were his own adaptations of Romeo & Juliet and The Seagull; plays like Our Town, Night Must Fall and Shadowlands; the Noel Coward double bill Still Life and Café Coward (a “marvelous party” featuring the Master’s songs, later expanded for production at Hofstra); and themed musicals/revues devoted to America’s rich musical heritage, such as Blue Songs, Gray Songs (a Civil War montage), Voices That Are Gone (the tragic tale of Stephen Foster told through his own songs), Falling in Love with Love (theatre songs for Valentine’s Day) and Autumn Leaves (celebrating Lance’s favorite season). He was particularly proud of the original musicals that he developed and helmed: Lighthouse (based on Ibsen’s Lady from the Sea), American Nocturne (sexual intrigue in a presidential election), Occupation: Dragonslayer (a musical fable of 9/11), and That Lady from Maxim’s -- 3 productions, including the New York Musical Theatre Festival, and winner of 4 New York Innovative Theatre Awards, among them Outstanding Musical Production (7 nominations, including Lance for Outstanding Director). Last year’s ambitious IOS fall season featured a searing production of The Runner Stumbles running in rep with the epic musical he co-adapted with Bryan, derived from Christopher Marlowe’s Elizabethan masterpiece, Edward the Second. Lance is survived by his two sisters, Bobbie Law and Bonnie Hewett, his nieces Heather Terzian and Lisa Miller, his nephew Joseph Law, and his long-time Isle of Shoals partner and collaborator, Bryan Williams.
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