Obituary

Renowned playwright, Lawrence native Arthur Kopit, 83

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Before Lawrence native Arthur Kopit became a successful playwright he was a young man who took pleasure in teasing his younger sister, Susan, and her friends and pestering his mother and her friends playing cards.

“Because he was much older than us, he enjoyed teasing Susan and all her friends” said Jacqueline Buchman Handel, who was one of those friends. “My mother often complained that Arthur would annoy the women playing canasta in their home. Looking back, he was just like any other high school male student, only smarter and more cleaver.”

Kopit also proved to be more creative as he wrote plays that garnered Tony nominations, was a two-time finalist for a Pulitzer Prize, won what is now the Drama Desk Award and nominated for another. He died at his Manhattan home on April 2. Kopit was 83. Born Arthur Lee Koenig, he took his stepfather’s surname after his mother remarried.

“There were many gifted students in Lawrence High School when I attended,” Handel said. “I remember the excitement in English class in 1963 when Mr. Daly proudly announced one of his recent students, while an upperclassman in Harvard, wrote ‘Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad.’”

Off-Broadway and on Broadway the play was directed by Jerome Robbins.

Kopit, who graduated from Lawrence High in 1955, wrote “Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma’s Hung You in the Closet and I’m Feelin’ So Sad,” and won $250 and the Harvard University-run contest. He won the Vernon Rice Award (now the Drama Desk Award) and the Outer Critics Circle Award for best new play in 1962. Kopit also began his long-term collaboration with Roger L. Stevens.

There was continued success with several one-act plays such as “The Day the Whores Came Out to Play Tennis,” and a three-act play “On the Runway of Life, You Never Know What’s Coming Off Next.” In 1969, he wrote “Indians” based on a shooting in Saigon. Despite mixed reviews in London and on Broadway, the play was nominated for three Tony Awards, including Best Play, and a Pulitzer for drama. 

“He simply made our community so proud of what he accomplished at so young an age,” Handel said. “People just talked about ‘our playwright.’ His instant success gave people a reason to wonder when his next play would be on Broadway. It was special to have a celebrity as a neighbor.”

In the early 1970s, Kopit moved to Vermont and taught at Wesleyan University in the mid-‘70s. He wrote “Wings” after a nine-year break from writing plays that took inspiration from his stepfather’s recovery experience who suffered a stroke in 1976. It impacted his ability to speak. The play garnered three Tony nominations with Constance Cummings winning for best actress. “Wings” was also a finalist for a Pulitzer.

Kopit collaborated with Maury Yeston on the 1982 musical “Nine,” based on the Federico Fellini film “8½.” Kopit received a Tony nomination for nest book of a musical. “Nine” was revived in 2003 with Antonio Banderas and won two Tony Awards. There was also a 2009 film based on Kopit’s script.

His final Broadway credit was 1998’s “High Society” based on “The Philadelphia Story.” A year later “Y2K” was on off-Broadway. It was retitled “Because He Can” as the forecasted issues did not materialize. Kopit also taught at City College of New York and Yale University. He was inducted into the American Theater Hall of Fame in 2017.

Kopit married Leslie Garis in 1968. Together for 53 years, they had three children: Alex, Ben and Kat.

“To me his early achievement served as a lasting impression to work hard and have achievable goals,” Handel said.