Beloved and award-winning stage director Mark Brokaw died June 29 after a battle with cancer. The news was confirmed in social media posts from legions of Brokaw's friends and colleagues, including actor Camryn Mannheim. He was 65.
Born and raised in Illinois, Mr. Brokaw was a graduate of Yale School of Drama, later becoming a Drama League fellow. Beginning his career Off-Broadway, he directed premieres from such playwrights as Douglas Carter Beane, Paula Vogel, Eric Bogosian, Wendy Wasserstein, Charles Busch, Lisa Kron, Lisa Loomer, Kenneth Lonergan, Craig Lucas, Patrick Marber, and Robert Schenkkan, among many others. He staged productions at Second Stage Theater, Playwrights Horizons, The New Group, Vineyard Theatre, Lincoln Center, The Public Theater, Manhattan Theatre Club, and Roundabout Theatre Company. In London, he also directed at Donmar Warehouse and Menier Chocolate Factory.
All three of his major awards came for directing the 1997 premiere of Vogel's Pulitzer-winning How I Learned to Drive at Vineyard Theatre, work he would recreate for the play's 2022 Broadway debut starring original cast members Mary-Louise Parker and David Morse. The play, which recounts a young woman's grooming and sexual assault at the hands of her uncle, was among the most notable titles in Mr. Brokaw's prolific and groundbreaking directing resume, a list that also includes the original Off-Broadway stagings of Lonnergan's This Is Our Youth and Lobby Hero.
Mr. Brokaw would make his Broadway debut in 2004, directing Lucas' Reckless for Manhattan Theatre Club, also starring Parker. That kicked off a nearly 20-year stint that saw the director becoming a frequent fixture on the Main Stem, going on to helm The Constant Wife, Cry-Baby, After Miss Julie, The Lyons, Rodgers and Hammerstein's Cinderella, Heisenberg, and How I Learned to Drive, which would be his final Broadway outing. His sole film credit came in 2007 with Spinning Into Butter, starring Sarah Jessica Parker, Mykelti Williamson, Beau Bridges, and Miranda Richardson. He was honored for his work on the feature with a nomination for the Grand Prix des Amériques at the Montréal World Film Festival.
Aside from his directing work, Mr. Brokaw served as a vice president and member of the executive board of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Society, and president of the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. He is survived by his husband, Andrew Farber.
A statement released by The Drama League reads: "Since receiving his fellowship in 1986, Mark remained an integral part of our community—as a mentor, master director in our programs, and a board member for a number of years. Recently he joined an alumni committee to support The Directors Project—his generosity was enormous and leaves an incredible legacy. His artistic brilliance shaped countless productions and inspired generations of artists. We are profoundly grateful to him and mourn the loss of a guiding light in our community. He will be deeply missed."
