Award-winning Stage Actress and Producer. Born Lucille Wadler, she studied acting and theatre ant the Academy of Dramatic Arts. She made her Broadway debut in 1925 in “Caesar and Cleopatra” with Helen Hayes. She also appeared in Belasco’s “The Dove” with Judith Anderson. In 1947, she founded the White Barn Theatre with the mission of developing the talents of new playwrights, composers, directors. She premiered plays such as “Red Roses for Me” (1948), “The Chairs” or “The Initiation.” As Producer: “The Balcony,” “Gertrude Stein and a Companion,” “Steel Magnolias” and “The Destiny of Me.” The name of the theatre changed to Lucille Lortel Theatre and were created the Lucille Lortel Awards. The “Queen of Off-Broadway” was inducted into the Theatre Hall of Fame in 1990, and received the first Annual Lee Strasberg Lifetime Achievement in 1985. Her tombstone epitaph reads: “LUCILLE LORTEL Theatrical Pioneer, Patron of the Arts, Loving Mentor to All Who Worked with Her. Her Theaters Were Her Children.” (bio by: José L Bernabé Tronchoni)