Rita Hassan

Rita Hassan, born Sophie Hassin and also known by her married name Rita Hassan Blue, (January 5, 1905 – October 13, 1973) was an American actress, theatre critic, and theatrical producer.[1][2] During the Great Depression she was director of the Experimental Theatre unit of the Federal Theatre Project. In the 1940s she produced three plays on Broadway. She later worked as a theatre critic for Show Business magazine in the 1950s and 1960s, and served as the vice-president of the Drama Desk organization. At the time of her death in 1973 she was a resident artist at the University of Bridgeport.

Life and career

Rita Hassan was born in Brooklyn on January 5, 1905.[3] She was the daughter of Frank Hassin and his wife,[4] Fannie Weissler[5] (also spelled Werssler).[6] The 1910 United States Census gives her name as Sophia Hassin,[5] but her 1905 birth certificate gives her name as Sophie Hasin (spelled with one s).[6] She attended grammar school at PS 025 (today the Eubie Blake School) in Brooklyn where she was enrolled under the name Sophie Hassin.[7] She was part of the graduating 8th grade class in 1917.[8]

Hassan trained as an actress in the early 1930s under Lee Strasberg at the Group Theatre in New York City where one of her fellow trainees was Stella Adler.[9] By 1934 she was going by the name of Rita Hassan as a member of the Theatre Mart Group in Brooklyn.[10] That same year she portrayed the stenographer in Howard Lindsay's She Loves Me Not at the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.[11][12] After this she was employed as the head of the Experimental Theatre unit of the Federal Theatre Project;[2][13][14] a role which involved both directing and producing plays.[15] She left her position in 1938 in order to work for Burgess Meredith at the Actors' Equity Association (AEA).[16] She served as Meredith's executive assistant while he was head of the AEA, and also served in the same capacity for AEA head Arthur Byron.[2]

Hassan was credited as the assistant-set designer for the 1939 play Mamba's Daughters which starred Ethel Waters.[17] With the actor Paul Seymour she co-wrote the book to a musical entitled Free For all which was completed in 1941.[15] In 1942 she produced Herbert B. Ehrmann's play Under This Rood on Broadway at the Windsor Theatre.[18] She produced two more plays on Broadway in the 1940s: Harry Kleiner's Skydrift (1945) and Eva Le Gallienne and Florida Friebus's Alice in Wonderland (1947).[2]

Hassan was a theatre critic for Show Business magazine in the 1950s and 1960s,[2] and also worked as an interviewer for the WQXR radio station.[9] From 1968 until her death 1973 she was a resident artist at the University of Bridgeport where she taught in the university's theatre department. She also served as the vice-president of the Drama Desk organization for part of her career,[2] and was the editor of Mordecai Gorelik's theatre textbook New Theaters for Old.[9]

At the age of 68, Hassan died in Bridgeport, Connecticut on October 13, 1973.[1] She was married to the entertainment lawyer Ira Blue.[2]

References

  1. ^ a b Commire, Anne (2007). "Blue, Rita Hassan". In Commire, Anne; Klezmer, Deborah (eds.). Dictionary of Women Worldwide: A-L. Thomson Gale. ISBN 9780787676766.
  2. ^ a b c d e f g "Rita H. Blue is Dead; Producer, Critic, 68". The New York Times. October 14, 1973. p. 69.
  3. ^ Rita Blue in the U.S., Social Security Death Index, 1935-2014
  4. ^ "Max Hassin Survived Morro Castle Disaster". Brooklyn Eagle. January 11, 1943. p. 3.
  5. ^ a b Sophia Hassin in the 1910 United States Federal Census, Brooklyn Ward 21, Kings, New York, USA; Enumeration District Number 0496
  6. ^ a b Sophie Hasin in the New York, New York, U.S., Index to Birth Certificates, 1866-1909, Certificate Number 5486
  7. ^ "Public School No. 25". Brooklyn Eagle. October 8, 1913. p. 26.
  8. ^ "Graduating Exercises at Public School 25". The Chat. June 30, 1917. p. 72.
  9. ^ a b c "Rita Hassan to Speak on Theater, Art at UB". Bridgeport Post. December 11, 1966. p. 19.
  10. ^ "First Theatre Mart Group Play to Open in Brooklyn". The Brooklyn Citizen. June 27, 1934. p. 16.
  11. ^ "She Loves Me Not Will Arrive Tonight at Walnut". Evening Courier. October 20, 1934. p. 4.
  12. ^ "She Loves Me Not Amuses at Walnut". The Philadelphia Inquirer. October 21, 1934. p. 6.
  13. ^ "W.P.A Theatre". The Wichita Eagle. November 21, 1937. p. 4.
  14. ^ "Helping Meredith". Brooklyn Eagle. January 7, 1938. p. 16.
  15. ^ a b "Eileen Actor Writes Musical". The Brooklyn Citizen. August 26, 1941. p. 12.
  16. ^ "Labor Stage". New York Daily News. January 7, 1938. p. 45.
  17. ^ "The Theatre and Its People". The Windsor Star. December 12, 1939. p. 32.
  18. ^ "Under This Roof". Brooklyn Eagle. February 23, 1942. p. 5.
This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 4.0 unless otherwise noted. Additional terms may apply for the media files.