Herbert Blau: Professor of English and World Literature

Herbert Blau. 1950. Professor of English and World Literature. BCE (1947) New York University; MA (1949) and Ph.D. (1952) Stanford University. Blau was considered to be one of the most influential American theater theorists during the mid-twentieth century. Blau introduced American audiences to Samuel Beckett, Eugene Ionesco, Harold Pinter, and Jean Ganet. Blau’s San Quentin production of Beckett’s Waiting for Godot attracted international interest. While at NYU, Blau met Jules Irving and both later attended Stanford University. They co-founded San Francisco’s Actors’ Workshop in a loft over a judo studio in 1952 as a landmark regional repertory company that lasted until 1965, when the pair left to run New York City’s Lincoln Center Repertory Company. On May 16, 1965, Blau and Irving became the first recipients of San Francisco State’s Presidential Award for Distinguished Service. Died on his 87th birthday on May 3, 2013.