David Schweizer, a theater director who championed emerging playwrights and worked at Baltimore Center Stage, died of a heart attack Dec. 5 in New York City. He was 74 and lived in Manhattan.
He was stricken at a book launch party at The Lambs, the country’s oldest professional theatrical club.
Born in Baltimore and raised on Saint George’s Road in North Roland Park, he was the son of Thomas Schweizer, a builder, and Esther White, who ran the family home. He was a Gilman School and Yale University graduate.
“Attuned to the theater at a very young age, David convinced his parents to allow him to travel to New York City from Baltimore, alone, at age 13, to see shows on Broadway,” said Mike Albo, a New York writer and performer.
As a young theater student, he befriended playwright Tennessee Williams, who took him on an ocean liner to Europe and traveled throughout Italy.
Mr. Schweizer later went on to direct several of Mr. Williams’ plays, including “The Milk Train Doesn’t Stop Here Anymore” with Olympia Dukakis. He also adapted and directed Williams’ “Masks Outrageous and Austere” and “Camino Real.”
Producer Joe Papp took note of Mr. Schweizer and assigned him to open the new Mitzi Newhouse Theater at Lincoln Center with a nontraditional version of Shakespeare’s “Troilus and Cressida,” starring a young Christopher Walken.
New York Times theater critic Clive Barnes panned Mr. Schweizer’s work, but he was undeterred.
Friends said he launched new plays by such distinctive American writers as Sam Shepard, Austin Pendleton and others.
Mr. Schweizer returned to Baltimore and directed at Center Stage. His 2008 production of the Rodgers and Hart musical “The Boys from Syracuse” was critically acclaimed and played to large audiences.
“He was a wizard who could spin the most unpromising assignments that Irene Lewis threw him at Center Stage into theatrical gold,” James Magruder, an author and playwright, said. “New plays, musicals, classics like The Rivals and The Miser — all were marked with a deep investigation into the texts coupled with his wild visual approach that brought out the best in his design collaborators.”
“His production of Caroline, or Change, better and clearer than the original production and the recent Broadway revival, was a gift to Baltimore,” Mr. Magruder added.
Mr. Schweizer directed Frank Langella in “Booth” (1994), Lynn Redgrave in Oscar Wilde’s “Importance of Being Earnest” (2006), and Olivia Wilde in “Beauty on the Vine” (2007).
He also directed opera, including Philip Glass and Allen Ginsberg’s “Hydrogen Jukebox” and Leonard Bernstein’s “Candide,” both at Long Beach Opera.
Outside of New York, he directed at Arena Stage, Trinity Rep, Yale Rep, The Mark Taper Forum, Geffen Playhouse, Children’s Theater Company (Minneapolis), and the Magic Theater.
Julian Fleisher, a friend, said, “He was a connector of people in a way that was almost cinematic. He created magical spaces where throngs of creative misfits found each other and collaborated under his sly smile.”
Survivors include his partner of 15 years, Caleb Wertenbaker, a set designer and TAIT entertainment worker; and his brother, Thomas “Tim” Schweizer of Baltimore.
Funeral plans are private.
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