Marcia Haufrecht "1940 U.S. Census form - Image (Line no. 6)". FamilySearch. Document dated April 4, 1940. Retrieved 2013-06-01. is an American actress, playwright and director, as well as a noted acting teacher and coach. A life member of Actors Studio, and a longtime member of The Ensemble Studio Theatre, she is also the founder and artistic director of the Off-Off-Broadway company (and venue), The Common Basis Theatre (originally The Common Ground Theatre).Wrath, Andres J. "Nothing Common About This Theatre: An interview with Robert Haufrecht" The Off-Off-Broadway Review. Volume 6, Number 5. September 30, 1999. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
Early life Haufrecht was the first of three children born to Herbert and Judith Haufreucht, the former a noted pianist, composer, folklorist and editor.Koznin, Allan. "Herbert Haufrecht, 88, Pianist, Composer, Folklorist and Editor". The New York Times. July 3, 1998. Retrieved 2013-01-01.
Career
Dance Haufrecht said that Broadway was scarcely clamoring for "a barefoot, modern dancer",. The Sissy Gamache Show. Aired September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-05 much less for one of Haufrecht's diminutive stature and limited experience.. The Sissy Gamache Show. Aired September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-05. She made her Off-Broadway debut as an actress that September at the Cherry Lane Theatre, with a small part in the Studio 12 limited-run revival of Jean-Paul Sartre's The Flies.J.P.S. "Theatre 12: 'The Flies'; Sartre Play is Revived at the Cherry Lane". The New York Times. September 10, 1954. Retrieved 2013-01-05. Her Broadway and her professional dancing debuts occurred two months later, when she was signed for the musical, Plain and Fancy. The show's choreographer, Helen Tamiris (a former colleague of Haufrecht's father) was instrumental in being included in the show. The show's producers changed Haufrecht's professional name to Howard, and so she remained for at least six years.Gelb, Arthur. "Theatre: 'White Cargo'; Modernized 1923 Play Opens Off Broadway". The New York Times. December 30, 1960. Retrieved 2013-01-04.
In the summer of 1955, Haufrecht toured nationally with Can-Can,Faculty: Marcia Haufrecht . The New School. Retrieved 2013-01-04.Marcia Howard: Stage and Film Work. OVRTUR: the musicals of new york, london and beyond. Retrieved 2013-01-04. a part that she attributed to fortuitous timing: I think the only reason they hired me was because it was in the dead of summer, and the only people that showed up to the audition were strippers; they weren't really dancers. So they had to hire me; I was the only dancer that showed up.
Before she was 20, Haufrecht turned her attention to acting, as she told The Montreal Gazette in 1969, "because I hated being part of the background. I felt so superfluous. And I felt I had something to say... It was my ego."Stephens, Anna. "There's Madness in Her Method". The Montreal Gazette. June 6, 1969. Retrieved 2013-01-01. In 2012, Haufrecht said that her early career change, however rewarding in the long run, was born of necessity: After I was done with Can-Can, I auditioned for a lot of shows, and I couldn't get anything... One day, I auditioned - I don't know if it was Damn Yankees - [but] it was a Bob Fosse show. And I'm down to the last fifteen and he needed twelve, or something like that. He pulls me aside and says, "I'd love to use you, Marcia. You're a wonderful dancer, you really are. But you're too short." I said to myself, "That's it; I'm outta here. I'm not dancing anymore."
Acting Within a year or so, Haufrecht was working with Nola Chilton, a New York-based acting teacher and director. Haufrecht studied with Chilton for approximately four years, culminating in her participation in an Off-Broadway revival of Sidney Kingsley's Dead End, staged by Chilton.Associated Press: "Play Cast Wins Battle". The Tri-City Herald. October 20, 1960. Retrieved 2013-01-07.
Village Voice critic Michael Smith, praised both performance (including Haufrecht's "spectacularly destroyed whore") and production.Smith, Michael. "Theatre: Dead End". The Village Voice. November 3, 1960. Retrieved 2013-01-10. However, she seriously contemplated giving up acting altogether because of dissatisfaction with her own contribution and with the quality of her work in general and her perceived lack of progress. Quickly dissuaded by her colleagues, Leibman in particular, Haufrecht followed the latter's advice and joined him at The Actors Studio to meet with studio director Lee Strasberg. Allowed to sit in on sessions on an interim basis, Haufrecht eventually earned her full membership via audition.. The Sissy Gamache Show. Aired September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-07
A member of the Studio since at least 1964,Cast of 1964 Actors Studio production of 'Three Sisters'. Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 2013-01-03. Haufrecht is a veteran of stage and screen, in roles ranging from White Cargo's exotic femme fatale, Tondeleyo (her final appearance as Marcia Howard),Schmidt, Sandra. "Theatre: White Cargo". The Village Voice. January 5, 1961. Retrieved 2013-01-05. to Richard III's eloquent nemesis, Queen Elizabeth, opposite Al Pacino (in the first of Pacino's three Richard's).Maria Haufrecht resume: Regional . MariaHaufrecht.com. Retrieved 2013-01-04.Gussow, Mel. "Theater: 'Richard III'; Production in Boston Stars Al Pacino; The Cast". The New York Times. February 13, 1973. She has performed at Lincoln Center,'Mert & Phil' credits. Internet Broadway Database. Retrieved 2013-01-03 La MaMa, The Public Theater,Marcia Haufrecht (as Marsha Haufrecht). Internet Off-Broadway Database. Retrieved 2013-01-03. with The Ensemble Studio Theatre, Center Stage in Baltimore, at the Adelphi Festival Theatre in Garden City, The Open Stage in Sarasota,"SKAT Honors Playwright" in Montreal at Place des Arts,Kelly, Norma. "'Kibbutz Kitchen Sink' Moves Into Place Des Arts". The Montreal Gazette. June 6, 1969. Retrieved 2013-01-04. and in Berlin at the Friends of the Opera Theatre."Travelling On Plastic Chairs Into The Past" . Berliner Morgenpost. April 6, 1997. Retrieved 2013-01-08 Haufrecht's film appearances have, in recent years, included The Producers, The Night Listener, Anamorph, and Win Win; on TV, she has been seen in The Sopranos, as well as Law & Order, Law and Order: SVU, and Law and Order: Criminal Intent.
In April 2001, more than 20 years after its first production, Tennessee Williams' Will Mr. Merriweather Return from Memphis? premiered in New York at Haufrecht's Common Basis Theatre, with Haufrecht starring. Daily News critic Howard Kissel wrote, "The play's heady combination of black humor and poetry is best handled by Marcia Haufrecht, as the woman pining for her former boarder."Kissel, Howard. "Tennessee's New/Old Memphis". The Daily News. April 26, 2001. Ken Jaworski of Off-Off-Broadway Review added: As Louise McBride, Marcia Haufrecht was exquisite: a frail woman struggling to appear strong, an aging southern belle masking loneliness behind false laughter. "Even in a dream one can suffer," Louise claims. Haufrecht embodied the premise, projecting a drowsy, fatigued lonesomeness with each action and word.Jaworski, Ken; "Waiting for Streetcar: 'Will Mr. Merriwether Return From Memphis?'". Off-Off-Broadway Review. Volume 7, Number 26. May 2, 2001. Retrieved 2013-01-03. The previous month, Haufrecht had garnered even stronger praise from Off-Off-Broadway Review's Doug DeVita as Common Basis staged another, less heralded premiere, Grace Cavalieri's Pinecrest Rest Haven:Cavalieri, Grace. "Pinecrest Rest Haven". Scene 4 Magazine. October 2010. Retrieved 2013-01-02. A frail-looking woman, her white hair tied up in a simple purple ribbon, enters a peach-and-white nursing-home waiting room and plaintively asks if anyone has seen her husband. The question, asked with a heartbreaking, bewildered innocence by the haunting Marcia Haufrecht, is a startlingly lucid depiction of the loss of clarity that can come with advanced age... the one thing this production had going for it was the presence of Haufrecht, who effortlessly rose above the obvious material and gave a luminous, moving performance of concise truth... As the late, great Madeline Kahn once said about her own work: "I have appeared in crap, but I have never treated it as such. Never." Haufrecht obviously goes by that same standard, and her performance displayed a level of professionalism that most actors would do well to emulate.DeVita, Doug. "No Rest for the Weary: 'Pinecrest Rest Haven'". The Off-Off-Broadway Review. Volume 7, Number 24. March 29, 2001. Retrieved 2013-01-02.
Writing From a playwright whose initial motivation had simply been to provide – at a director/colleague's request – an interesting acting vehicle for herself,. The Sissy Gamache Show. Aired September 7, 2012. Retrieved 2013-01-07. Haufrecht's plays have been produced in New York City by Common Basis Theatre,Mart, Sheila. "Lunar Landing: 'Full Moon & High Tide in the Ladies' Room'". Off-Off-Broadway Review. Volume 7, Number 13. . Retrieved 2013-01-03. The Ensemble Studio Theatre,"Around Town". New York Magazine. May 21, 1979. Retrieved 2013-01-03."Goings On About Town: The Theatre". The New Yorker. June 9, 1980. Retrieved 2013-01-01. and The Actors Studio, and, in upstate New York, by Performing Arts of Woodstock.45 Seasons of Performing Arts of Woodstock, Inc.. PerformingArtsofWoodstock.org. Retrieved 2013-01-08. Around the country, her work has been performed in Texas,Weeks, Jerome. "'Welfare': Stock Characters on Parade". The Dallas Morning News. May 9, 1989. Retrieved 2013-01-10. Florida, in San Francisco, and, in Southern California, by Company of AngelsLoynd, Ray. "'Amphitryon 38' at Group Rep; 'Dracula Tyrannus' at the Globe; 'Frost' at Commonwealth; 'Potatoes' at Odyssey; 'Full Moon' at West End". The Los Angeles. September 30, 1988. Retrieved 2013-01-08. and CSU Fullerton. Abroad, her plays have been staged in New Zealand,Chye, Kee Thuan. "Upstage Down Under, Part 2 - A Theatre Journal: Where warmth is in the theatre". The New Straits Times. April 22, 1994. Retrieved 2013-01-10. Australia at La Mama in Melbourne,"Theatre". The Melbourne Age. November 10, 1989. Retrieved 2013-01-03. and at the Kultur im Gugg in Austria.
Directing As a director, Haufrecht has staged both original works and revivals at The Ensemble Studio Theatre,The Fisher Wedding (Film, 1982). WorldCat. Retrieved 2013-01-03. The Actors Studio, The Barrow Street Theatre,"Fortnight (January 8 - February 1, 2009): Works in Progress" . Barrow Street Theatre. Retrieved 2013-01-03. The Common Basis Theatre,"Theatre Listings: Off-Off-Broadway". New York Magazine. June 28, 1993. Retrieved 2013-01-03. and in Australia,Promethea Bound and Sisyphus Too: production details. AusStage. Retrieved 2013-01-02. "World premiere of a new work by Marcia Haufrecht, direct from the New York Actors' Studio." Portugal,Bruno Schiappa CV: Stage Productions (Years 2001-2005 & 2007). GeoCities. Retrieved 2013-01-03. and Austria .
Teaching