SCHNEIDER, ALAN

SCHNEIDER, ALAN (Abram Leopoldovich Schneider; 1917–1984), U.S. theatrical director. Born in Kharkov, Russia, Schneider taught drama at Catholic University, Washington, D.C. He staged Saroyan's Jim Dandy in 1941, and works by Shakespeare, Molière, Chekhov, and Wilder before becoming   artistic director of the Arena Stage in Washington. He produced Waiting for Godot in 1956 and, after meeting Edward Albee in 1960, he directed all of Albee's plays, including Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (1962), for which he won a Tony Award. He also directed plays by Harold Pinter. Schneider was nominated for four other Tonys for Best Director: The Ballad of a Sad Café (1964); Tiny Alice (1965); A Delicate Balance (1967); and You Know I Can't Hear You When the Water's Running (1968). Schneider wrote Theatre Profiles (1982) and Entrances: An American Director's Journey, which was published in 1986. -ADD. BIBLIOGRAPHY: H. Maurice, (ed.), No Author Better Served: The Correspondence of Samuel Beckett and Alan Schneider (1998).