In Memoriam:
Hanon Reznikov, 1950-2008
It is with great sadness that we announce that Hanon Reznikov, actor, writer, producer and co-director of The Living Theater for 23 years, died on Saturday, May 3 in Manhattan. He was 57. The cause was complications of pneumonia following a stroke in early April. Born on September 23, 1950, in Brooklyn, he is survived by his wife, Judith Malina, two stepchildren, Isha Appell and Garrick Beck, and a brother, James Reznik of California.
Hanon was a great supporter of Theaters Against War (THAW), giving generously of his talents and insights regarding sustained resistance to war as expressed through theatre. If ever there were a model of theatre as a tribunal to signal through the flames, The Living Theatre has been at the forefront. To be such an actor on the world stage was Hanon’s passion and raison d’etre.
While studying biophysics at Yale University in 1968, Hanon first encountered The Living Theatre in its groundbreaking production of Paradise Now. His reaction at that time was a resounding “bulls__t!” Yet a few years later, he abandoned science for art. As a Living Theatre member he wrote, directed and acted with the company—as well as babysat for Isha Manna, Judith and Julian’s daughter. His first writing collaboration with TLT was an adaptation of Wassily Kandinsky’s and George Bernard Shaw’s words in The Yellow Methuselah, which toured Europe and played at The Joyce Theatre in New York in 1984. Many thought the death of Julian Beck in 1985 would be the demise of The Living. Without Hanon’s Herculean efforts, it may very well have been. He rose to the occasion, assuming his position as co-artistic director with his long-time lover, Judith Malina (co-founder of The Living Theatre with late Julian Beck). After TLT was resurrected from the ashes with its Retrospectacle at Cooper Union in 1986, The Living announced its plans to go forward, and Judith and Hanon were married in 1988.
In 1989, The Living Theatre opened its 3rd Street and Avenue C space. There Hanon wrote and directed several new works including Utopia, Body of God (a collective creation with homeless people) celebrated as the “Paradise Now of the 90s” Village Voice critic Mark Gevisser, and Anarchia, which Ben Brantley lauded in The New York Times as “a wistful, willfully self-conscious defense of the philosophies and techniques” of the Living Theatre. He also wrote a moving biographical play about his relationship with Malina and The Living Theatre, entitled The Zero Method, which premiered at the 3rd Street space and toured extensively in Europe. After the 3rd Street space was closed by the Buildings Department in 1993, The Living produced new plays at venues like Theater for the New City and The Vineyard, followed by a long-term residence at a castello in Rochetta Ligure where several new works were created.
In 2007, The Living Theatre space at 21 Clinton Street opened with a revival of Kenneth Brown’s The Brig, first produced by The Living Theatre in 1963, followed by Maudie and Jane, Luciano Nattino’s adaptation of Doris Lessing’s novel, performed by Judith Malina and Patricia Geri Russell. Plans were in place for the following season and The Brig was about to depart on a European tour of The Brig when Hanon suffered the stroke that ultimately felled him.
As Bill Koehnlein of The Brecht Forum and Theatre of the Oppressed Laboratory wrote about Hanon, “The sweetness of his voice, his mischievous sense of humor, his fierce and avid intelligence, his compassion, his spirit of collaboration” were hallmarks of Hanon’s contribution to the world of theatre.
THAW remembers Hanon Reznikov with great fondness and respect. He will be sorely missed. Messages of condolence can be sent to Judith Malina and the company at 21 Clinton Street, New York, New York 10002. To carry on the legacy in this critical transitional time, and to honor Hanon’s 25 year contribution to the life of The Living, your contributions in memory of Hanon Reznikov are appreciated.
