Jack Be Nimble

A warm witty tell-all and history of American regional theater from one of our best-loved directorsFor Jack O''Brien there''s nothing like a first encounter with a great performer nothing like the sound of an audience bursting into applause. In short there''s nothing like the theater. Following a fairly normal Midwestern childhood O''Brien hoped to make his mark by writing lyrics for Broadway but was instead pulled into the growing American regional theater movement by the likes of John Houseman Helen Hayes Ellis Rabb and Eva Le Gallienne. He didn''t intend to become a director or to direct some of the most brilliant―and sometimes maddening―personalities of the age but in a charming hilarious and unexpected way that''s what happened. O''Brien has had a long successful career on Broadway and as artistic director of San Diego''s Old Globe Theatre but the history of the movement that shaped him has been overlooked. In the middle of the last century some extraordinary people forged a link in the chain connecting European influences such as the Moscow Art Theatre and Great Britain''s National Theatre with the flourishing American theater of today. O''Brien was there to see and record it all in beautifully vivid detail. Funny exuberant unfailingly honest Jack Be Nimble is the tale of those missing heroes performances and cultural battles. It is also the irresistible story of one of our best-loved theater directors growing into his passion and discovering what he is capable of.