Eve Adamson, Founder of Jean Cocteau Rep, Dies

Eve Adamson, founder of Jean Cocteau Repertory and a pioneer and leading director of classical repertory theater in New York City, died on Sunday, October 8 at nearly 69 years of age. The cause of death was not immediately known.

She was born in Beverly Hills on October 30, 1938; her father was Harold Adamson, a lyricist who received five Academy Award nominations for such songs as “Around the World in Eighty Days,” “It’s a Most Unusual Day,” and “Coming In on a Wing and a Prayer.” She attended Beverly Hills High School and then moved to New York, where she soon began producing classical theater.

Adamson founded the Mainstream Theatre on East 14 Street. In 1971, she founded the Jean Cocteau Rep in a storefront theatre at 43 Bond Street in the East Village. Over the years, she staged more than 100 classical and 20th century plays in rotating repertory with the resident ensemble company. She resigned as artistic director in 1989.

She also worked as a freelance director in Arkansas, California, Texas, and New York; next week, she was to have begun rehearsals for the Phoenix Theatre Ensemble production of Anouilh’s Antigone. A member of the International Theatre Institute, Adamson traveled and worked extensively in Eastern and Western Europe, the former USSR, South America, and Asia. Additionally, she hosted New York residencies of playwrights and directors from Russia, Poland, Denmark, and England. She was also a founding member of A.R.T./New York and served on the National Artistic Agenda Task Force of the Theatre Communications Group.

She is survived by a half-brother, Lloyd Crisfield, who lives in California. A memorial service for Adamson will be held in December or January, and a memorial fund is being established in her name.