Arnold Mittelman | 799 Crandon Blvd #505, Key Biscayne, FL 33149
amittelman@bellsouth.net
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ARNOLD MITTELMAN is a producer and director with 40 years of theatrical achievement that has resulted in the creation and production of more than 300 artistically diverse plays, musicals and special events. Prior to coming to the world famous Coconut Grove Playhouse in 1985, Mr. Mittelman directed and produced Alone Together at Broadway's Music Box Theatre. Succeeding the esteemed actor José Ferrer as the Producing Artistic Director of Coconut Grove Playhouse, he continued to bring national and international focus to this renowned theater.

Mr. Mittelman helped create more than 200 plays, musicals, educational and special events on two stages during his 21-year tenure at the Playhouse. These plays and musicals were highlighted by 28 World or American premieres. This body of work includes three Pulitzer Prize-winning playwrights directing their own work for the first time in a major theatrical production: Edward Albee - Seascape; David Auburn - Proof; and Nilo Cruz - Anna In the Tropics. Musical legends Cy Coleman, Charles Strouse, Jerry Herman, Jimmy Buffett, John Kander and Fred Ebb were in residence at the Playhouse to develop world premiere productions. The Coconut Grove Playhouse has also been honored by the participation of librettist/writers Herman Wouk, Alfred Uhry, Jerome Weidman and Terrence McNally.

Too numerous to mention are the world famous stars and Tony award-winning directors, designers and choreographers who have worked with Mr. Mittelman. Forty Playhouse productions, featuring some of the industry's greatest theatrical talents and innovative partnerships between the not-for-profit and for-profit sectors, have transferred directly to Broadway, off-Broadway, toured, or gone on to other national and international venues (see below). In addition, while at the Playhouse he oversaw the creation of an education program that included a complete theatrical training curriculum and in-school touring program that commissioned and produced 35 socially relevant plays for children.

While at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, which began its theatrical history more than fifty years ago with the American premiere of Waiting for Godot, Mr. Mittelman produced and launched the 12-city national tour of Tuesdays With Morrie as part of Live Nation's Broadway Across America Series. Other national tours have included Tallulah starring Kathleen Turner and Death of a Salesman with Hal Holbrook. The revival of Herb Gardner's I'm Not Rappaport, starring Judd Hirsch and Ben Vereen, moved directly to Broadway as did the National Actors Theater production of Neil Simon's The Sunshine Boys starring Tony Randall and Jack Klugman. Mr. Mittelman solely produced the off-Broadway hit, Visiting Mr. Green, starring Eli Wallach, which started at the Playhouse, ran a year off-Broadway, and has subsequently been produced all over the world. Mr. Mittelman also produced Bermuda Avenue Triangle in Los Angeles starring Beatrice Arthur.

As a director, Mr. Mittelman has staged numerous plays and musicals ranging from classics to revivals and new works, including Luis Santeiro's Mixed Blessings (based on Moliere's Tartuffe), which was chosen to be part of the prestigious AT&T OnStage Program. As Producing Artistic Director, Mr. Mittelman headed an organization with an annual budget in excess of $6 million. He supervised a year-round and seasonal staff of 60-100 people that included artistic, educational, production, marketing, fundraising and administrative departments. During his tenure the Playhouse generated well over $150 million in gross revenues, representing over $500 million in economic impact to South Florida while his productions have been seen by over three million attendees, including countless disadvantaged citizens, seniors and students.

Mr. Mittelman led a team that received $20 million in government funding and $5 million in private sector support toward Playhouse renovations. In addition, the Playhouse was the home of many other artistic events including music, dance, concerts, film festivals and the television broadcasts of the David Letterman and Jon Stewart shows. Before coming to the Playhouse and for more than a decade, Mr. Mittelman was Producing Director of the nationally acclaimed Whole Theatre Company, which he founded with other artists including Oscar-winner Olympia Dukakis. The repertory of the Whole Theatre resident company emphasized classic American and Western European literature. Mr. Mittelman is proud to have directed the work of O'Neill, Albee, Brecht, Chekov and many others. Prior to the Whole Theatre he was a founder and director of the nationally acclaimed New York Free Theatre where he created, for six years, original plays and musicals with relevant social themes. He was also a co-producer of Shaw's Candida for CBS Television starring Blythe Danner.

Mr. Mittelman attended the High School for the Performing Arts and graduated with honors from Brooklyn College. He received his M.F.A. from the N.Y.U. School of Arts, where he was the first recipient of the Vincent Sardi Fellowship. Additionally, Mr. Mittelman has taught and been on the graduate faculty of Rutgers University, under a grant from the Rockefeller Foundation, developing a new doctoral program in Applied Arts. He is the co-author of Theater Arts and Self Awareness, a compilation of pioneering techniques in development of self esteem, reading, math, and behavioral change in adolescents. He also wrote under contract for Universal Studios. Mr. Mittelman has been a member of the League of American Theatres and Producers, Actors Equity, and the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers.

In 2006 Arnold Mittelman was recipient of the George Abbott Award for Outstanding Achievement in the Arts. His latest accomplishment is the founding of the American Theater Festival (ATF), bringing the unique productions and the work of America's finest producing not-for-profit theaters to a series of dynamic presenting venues throughout the country. He also established the National Jewish Theater (NJT) which celebrates and preserves the genius and cultural significance of important Jewish American composers, lyricists and playwrights of musical theater, drama and comedy. Mr. Mittelman is proud to be President and Producing Artistic Director of both the not-for-profit American Theater Festival and National Jewish Theater. The companies' first production was The Soul of Gershwin: The Musical Journey of an American Klezmer by Joseph Vass. (www.soulofgershwin.com).

Shows originally produced by Arnold Mittelman during his tenure as Producing Artistic Director at the Coconut Grove Playhouse, that went on to Broadway, Off-Broadway, London, National Tours and major regional theater Co-Productions.