Joseph Papp

Smithsonian Collections

Exhibition Label: When Joe Papp originated the New York Shakespeare Festival in 1956, his intent was to cultivate an audience broader than the middle class mainstream who flooded Broadway theaters in the mid-1950s-to reach those "who might never have seen a play before and who were unable or unwilling to pay." By the 1960s, Papp had become a catalyst for alternative theater, most notably the 1967 "American tribal love-rock musical" Hair. The Shakespeare Festival produced the phenomenally successful musical A Chorus Line at Papp's Public Theater in 1975, but his repertory also included jazz workshops, chamber music, puppet shows, and a wide range of classic and contemporary theater. His commitment to multicultural entertainment helped to change the face of American theater from the 1960s onward.
Provenance: (Robert Miller, New York); purchased 1994 NPG

Credit Line: National Portrait Gallery, Smithsonian Institution; partial gift of Richard Neel and Hartley Neel

Medium: Oil on canvas
Dimensions: Stretcher: 106 x 75.6 x 2.5cm (41 3/4 x 29 3/4 x 1"); Frame: 128.3 x 97.8 x 7cm (50 1/2 x 38 1/2 x 2 3/4")

Topic: Equipment\Smoking Implements\Pipe; Joseph Papp: Male; Joseph Papp: Performing Arts\Producer\Theater; Portrait

Featured In