Deceased December 3, 1990
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In Memory
Our classmate Jonathan Alper—theatre impresario, avid skier, balletomane, gourmet and traveler—died Dec. 3, 1990, of AIDS-related complications. He was 40.
Obituaries in the New York Times, the Village Voice, the Washington Post and Variety reported Jon’s death, describing it as a major loss to the American theater. The articles described how Jon—as a producer, director and theater literary manager—had played a major role over the past decade in presenting new and important playwrights.
At the time of his death, Jon was artistic associate at the Manhattan Theater Club, with which he had been associated since 1978, when he directed Safe House for which his leading actress won an Obie award.
By 1980, he was the theater’s literary manager. The theater’s artistic director, Lynne Meadow, credited Jon for shaping the theater’s next decade of artistic growth.
“We will miss him terribly,” Lynne Meadow said at his funeral. “His untimely death is a profound loss to the entire American theater and to all his friends and colleagues who loved him. It was Jonathan who helped to determine which new voices would be the voices of tomorrow,” she said, “which plays would endure, which plays should be passed over for not being worthy of the imprimatur of his theater.”
At Amherst, Jon produced and directed many plays. As an independent scholar his senior year, Jon translated, produced and directed Wozzeck. His scrupulous attention to the nuances of the text combined with his unyielding quest for purity of form made the production memorable.
Jon received his degree summa cum laude and was elected to Phi Beta Kappa. He was a member of Alpha Delta Phi fraternity.
After Amherst, Jon studied acting and directing for two years in London at the Webber Douglas Academy of Dramatic Arts. Upon his return to the United States, he went to work as literary manager of the Folger Shakespeare Theater of the Folger Library in Washington, D.C. There, he directed productions of Hamlet, Much Ado About Nothing and the American premiere of David Hare’s Teeth ‘n’ Smiles. Many writers—Terrence McNally, Brian Friel and Beth Henley among others—were identified by Alper, who brought their work to life at MTC. It was not unusual for the plays that he recommended to end up winning Pulitzer Prizes, Tony and Obie and New York Drama Critics Circle Awards.
At a memorial service held in New York in January, playwrights Terrence McNally and Wendy Wasserstein (among others) paid moving tributes to Jon’s talents as literary manager and dramaturg. McNally in particular exhorted his colleagues in the theatre to continue Jon’s unceasing quest for excellence.
The theater was Jon’s grand passion, but it was not his only one. Even after he was diagnosed with AIDS more than two years ago, he would grab a long weekend to go skiing. He loved the ballet and went as often as possible. Jon gave generously of his time to the New York City Ballet as a volunteer.
Jon’s battle with AIDS was heroic and dignified. He endured periods of severe illness, when the disease attacked his hearing, his eyesight, his sense of balance. When the disease relented, Jon enjoyed life fully—visiting friends and family, attending theatre and ballet and traveling.
Jon is survived by his longtime companion, Kip Said of New York City; his father and stepmother, Jerome and Muriel Alper of Chevy Chase, Md.; and two brothers, Andrew of New York City and Alan of Silver Springs, Md.
At the Manhattan Theater Club, where colleagues considered him “a watchdog at the gates of our theater—constantly reminding us of the fine line between art and commercialism,” he was a valued resource and a friend. The theater has established a fund in his name to support the caliber and kind of work that Jon so ardently believed in.
Henry Goldman ’71
John D. Mason ’71