Background
Jack Gelber was born on April 12, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Harold and Molly Gelber. He had two brothers, Julius and David.
1966
New York, New York, United States
American author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007) (left) talks with playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003) during a visit the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Photo by Susan Wood
1966
New York, New York, United States
American playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003) (left) talks with author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007) during the latter's visit the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Photo by Susan Wood
1966
New York, New York, United States
From left, American actor Rip Torn, author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007), playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003), and unidentified others on the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Torn played the male lead in the production. Photo by Susan Wood
1966
New York, New York, United States
From left, American actor Rip Torn, author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007), and playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003) on the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Torn played the male lead in the production. Photo by Susan Wood
1966
New York, New York, United States
American author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007) (left) talks with playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003) during a visit the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Photo by Susan Wood
1966
New York, New York, United States
American playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003) (left) talks with author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007) during the latter's visit the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Photo by Susan Wood
1966
New York, New York, United States
From left, American actor Rip Torn, author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007), playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003), and unidentified others on the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Torn played the male lead in the production. Photo by Susan Wood
1966
New York, New York, United States
From left, American actor Rip Torn, author Norman Mailer (1923 - 2007), and playwright and theatre director Jack Gelber (1932 - 2003) on the set of Gelber's production of the play 'The Kitchen' (by Arnold Wesker) at the 81st Street Theatre, New York, New York, June 1966. Torn played the male lead in the production. Photo by Susan Wood
Champaign, IL, United States
In 1953 Jack Gelber received a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
Jack Gelber was born on April 12, 1932, in Chicago, Illinois, United States. He was the son of Harold and Molly Gelber. He had two brothers, Julius and David.
In 1953 Jack Gelber received a Bachelor of Science in journalism from the University of Illinois at Urbana–Champaign.
After graduating from university, Jack Gelber moved to New York City, where he found work as a mimeograph operator at the United Nations offices. His interest in jazz and theater led him to write his first play. The Connection, while living in Haiti. Returning to New York, he managed to get the play - an innovative drama that explores the world of drug dealers and employs many innovative techniques designed to make the audience believe it is eavesdropping on actual conversations rather than watching a play - produced by the Living Theater in 1959. At first, panned by critics, the play soon gained acceptance and then praise, garnering an Obie Award and running for over seven hundred performances before it closed in 1961. It was also adapted as a 1962 film.
After this initial success, Gelber continued to write plays, including The Apple (1961), The Cuban Thing (1968), and an adaptation of Norman Mailer’s Barbary Shore (1972), but none of these won quite as much attention as his debut work. He also penned a novel, On Ice, in 1964.
Gelber was a writer-in-residence at the City College of the City University of New York from 1965 to 1966, an adjunct drama professor at Columbia University from 1967 to 1972, and a professor of drama at Brooklyn College of the City University of New York beginning in 1972, as well as teaching at the Actors Studio at the New School for Social Research (now New School University). He also directed plays at the Lincoln Center, the New Theatre Workshop, and the American Place Theatre.
Jack Gelber is influenced by Luigi Pirandello, Bertolt Brecht, and Samuel Beckett, most obviously in the way his plays experiment with the relationship between audience and performers within the context of the illusionist scenario of theatrical space.
On December 22, 1957, Jack Gelber married Carol Westenberg. They had two children: Jed, Amy.