Martin Benson Dies: Co-Founder Of Tony-Winning South Coast Rep Was 87
deadline.comMartin Benson, the co-founder and longtime artistic director of the Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory regional theater in Costa Mesa, California, died November 30 of a probable heart attack at his home in Huntington Beach, California.
He was 87. His death was announced by the theater’s Artistic Director David Ivers and Managing Director Suzanne Appel. The likely cause was reported to The New York Times by his stepson Justin Krumb.
Founded in 1964 by Benson and his San Francisco State University classmate David Emmes, South Coast Rep would go on to become of the country’s leading regional theaters, launching careers and an august roster of Broadway- and Off Broadway-bound plays.
Among the latter: Margaret Edson’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, Craig Lucas’ Prelude to a Kiss, Donald Margulies Sight Unseen, Richard Greenberg’s Three Days of Rain and The Violet Hour, Sam Shepard’s True West and Lynn Nottage’s Intimate Apparel. “Martin was a shining light for South Coast Repertory,” Ivers said in the announcement, “a pioneer here and in our field.
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