Lavine, Sigmund A.

Sigmund A Lavine was a theatre arts advocate and enthusiast throughout his life. His father was not only the personal representative for John Craig at the Castle Square Opera Repertory Theatre, but Managing Director of the Boston Opera House for the Schubert Organization and general manager for a chain of theatres operated by the forerunner of the General Cinema Corporation. Thus, Lavine grew up and spent his life around literary and theatrical figures such as Edwin Edgett, literary editor of the Boston Transcript, Henry Jewett, founder of the Repertory Theatre at the Copley Theatre, and George Clark, Treasurer of the Castle Square Theatre. As a journalist, Lavine wrote for his college newapaper, Boston University's Beanpot, the Boston Transcript, and the Boston Post as a feature and book review writer. It was at Boston University that Lavine first encountered Gilbert & Sullivan and began his long-time fascination with the team and their productions. Lavine began collecting materials that documented the career of Gilbert & Sullivan, and used his knowledge and love of the theatre to assist in productions of musicals at the Mary Curley School and Lake Winnisqaw, NH, displays at the Boston Atheneum, and lectures at the Boston Public Library. Performers in the Boston Comic Opera came to rely on Lavine as a source of information, friend, and mentor.