Mann, Theodore

Circle in the Square Theater was founded in 1950 by Theodore Mann and José Quintero in an abandoned nightclub in New York City's Greenwich Village.

Circle in the Square founder and Artistic Director Theodore Mann, was born Theodore Goldman in 1924, in Brooklyn, New York. 1924. He attended Erasmus High School, received an A.B.A from Salinas College and a law degree from Brooklyn Law School. Mann co-founded Circle in the Square with José Quintero in 1950 and remained its Artistic Director until his resignation in 1996. He continues to own and operate the Circle in the Square Theater Uptown. Additionally, he has produced and directed a number of shows under his own auspices, including The Cherry Orchard, General Seeger, A Great Day in the Morning, Long Day's Journey into Night at the Cameri Theater (Tel Aviv), Pygmalion, and Serjeant Musgrave's Dance. In addition to the theater, Mann worked in opera, directing La Boehme at Juilliard in 1974, Benjamin Britten's The Turn of the Screw for New York City Opera in 1988, and Gianni Schicci. His wife, Patricia Brooks, was a soprano with the New York Opera Company and appeared in several Circle productions. Circle in the Square's long-time Managing Director, Paul Libin, was born in Chicago in 1930, and attended the University of Illinois and Columbia University, where he earned a B.F.A in drama. Although he had originally intended to become an actor, his first job in theater was as designer Jo Mielziner's production assistant. He soon found success as a stage manager and, later, as a producer. In 1958, he produced his first show, an Off-Broadway revival of Arthur Miller's The Crucible, at the Martinique Theater on 32nd Street, which he leased and operated. In addition to producing Off-Broadway, Libin and partner Carol Schwartz created the Peppermint Players, a company which produced children's theater in New York City and at various venues in the tri-state area. Libin became acquainted with Theodore Mann in 1958 when the two founded the League of Off-Broadway Theaters together, an organization created to foster theatrical productions produced in Off-Broadway theaters; their professional partnership within Circle in the Square began in 1963. After twenty-seven years, Libin left Circle in the Square to become the Producing Director for Jujamcyn Theaters, of which he is currently Vice-President.

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