Joseph Chaikin

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Joseph Chaikin (September 16, 1935–June 22, 2003) was an American theatre director, teacher and playwright. He suffered from heart complications as a child, and was sent to a children's hospital in Florida the age of five. It was during this period of isolation that he began to experiment in the theatre. He briefly attended Drake University in Iowa, and then went on to work with The Living Theatre before founding The Open Theater. The Open Theater ran for about ten years. He then formed a company called The Winter Project, whose members included Ronnie Gilbert and Will Patton. Chaikin had a close working relationship with Sam Shepard and together they wrote the plays Tongues and Savage/Love, and were commissioned to write When The World Was Green for the 1996 Olympics in Atlanta, Georgia. Chaikin was also an expert on the works of Samuel Beckett, directing a number of Beckett's plays including Endgame at the Manhattan Theatre Club. Beckett wrote a poem for Chaikin entitled What Is the Word?. He received six Obie Awards, including one for Lifetime Achievement, and two Guggenheim Fellowships.

In 1984, a stroke suffered during open-heart surgery left Chaikin with partial aphasia. Despite this barrier to communication, Chaikin continued to direct and to create plays collaboratively with other writers, including John Belluso, whose disability-themed plays were produced at the Mark Taper Forum, Trinity Rep, Pacific Repertory Theatre and the New York Shakespeare Festival. Chaikin was also a lifelong teacher of acting and directing, and lived in New York's West Village until his death.

Chaikin was born and died in New York City. His illegitimate son, Mauricio, now resides in Deer Park, New York.