The Public Theater will hold a memorial for Gordon Davidson, a longtime friend of the downtown theatre and the former artistic director of the Center Theatre Group/Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles for 38 years. The private service will be held at the New York theatre February 12.
“Gordon Davidson was a lion of the theatre, carving out a place in Los Angeles for one of the most exciting theaters in the world,” commented Oskar Eustis, artistic director of the Public, in a press statement. “He was incredibly generous, unbelievably hardworking, and very, very gifted. He was also my mentor and my friend. I miss him more than I can say.”
Davidson passed away October 2, 2016, at age 83. He was the founder of the CTG/Mark Taper Forum and ran the theatre for 38 years, from 1967 until his retirement in 2004. Davidson was also the producing director of the CTG/Ahmanson Theatre for 15 years, and the artistic director of the inaugural season (2004-05) at the Kirk Douglas Theatre. He directed more than 40 plays and produced more than 300 for TCG, which was awarded the Regional Theatre Tony Award in 1977. In 2004 he was inducted into the Theater Hall of Fame at the Gershwin Theatre in New York.
The Brooklyn-born Davidson began his career as a stage manger at the Phoenix Theatre Company and at the American Shakespseare Festival in Stratford, Connecticut, and moved to L.A. in 1965.
