GAIL BELL
LONG-TIME NEW YORK STAGE AND COMPANY MANAGER
 Gail Bell, the actress and veteran stage and company
manager, was remembered at a memorial service in her honor on Monday,
January 14, at 4PM, at the SoHo Playhouse, 15 Vandam Street, where she
served for four years as company manager for the long-running
interactive comedy "Grandma Sylvia's Funeral" before retiring in 1998.
Gail, who was born in Gainesville, FL on November 5, 1934 died on
December 3, 2001 after an illness, in Lakeland, FL. She is survived by a
sister, Sandy Andrews, and a niece.
A past board member of the League of Off-Broadway
Theatres and Producers, Gail's career spanned four decades. After
graduating from AMDA (American Musical and Dramatic Academy) in the late
60's she worked as an actor/understudy and lead stage manager on many
Off-Broadway productions. In 1971 Gail company managed the original
Off-Broadway production of "Godspell" at The Cherry Lane and the
landmark Arvin Brown production of "Long Day's Journey into Night" at The
Promenade, and she moved with "Godspell" when it transfered to
Broadway in 1976. Both productions were produced by Edgar Lansbury, Stuart
Duncan and Joseph Beruh and she also served as company manager for
the first national tour of "Godspell." By 1980 Gail worked for the
highly esteemed general manager Dorothy Olim as company manager and
associate general manager on over 25 Broadway and Off-Broadway
productions, including "Poppea Nongena," "To Gillian on her 37th
Birthday," "The Runner Stumbles," "Father's Day," "A Weekend Near
Madison," "Piano Bar" and "Nightclub Cantana Cantata." In 1983 she formed
her own company, managing Sam Shepard's "Fool for Love" and "Bhutan."
In 1984 she began an association with the
producer and theater owner Eric Krebs, managing his theatres, The John
Houseman and Douglas Fairbanks, and working on the development of one of
Off-Broadway's earliest computerized ticketing systems. She also formed a
new production and general management company, Whitbell Productions, which
managed "Paul Robeson" on Broadway at The Golden, in association with Eric
Krebs.
In the 1990's Gail began working regularly with
the producer Dana Matthow, who owns the SoHo Playhouse. Before her
long-run with "Grandma Sylvia's Funeral," which Mr. Matthow produced, she
lent her expertise to his two first forays as a commercial producer --
"Sea Marks" and "Hysterical Blindness and Other Southern Tragedies..."
becoming theatre manager of the playhouse which was then known as
The Playhouse on Vandam. During "Grandma Sylvia's" four-year tenure, and
in addition to her many duties as company manager, Gail is fondly
remembered for having gamely volunteered to appear in a coffin costume as
Grandma Sylvia at numerous cast appearances throughout the city. She
referred to this stint as "the low-light of her career." |
