Nikos Psacharopoulos

Who was Nikos Psacharopoulos?

Nikos Psacharopoulos was an American theater producer, director, and educator.

Born Nickolas Konstantin Athanasios Psacharopoulos VII, Psacharopoulos moved to the United States in 1947 and graduated from Oberlin College in 1951. Three years later he received a Master of Fine Arts Degree in theater direction from the Yale Drama School. In 1955, he joined the faculty of Yale's undergraduate theater studies department and also taught in the graduate Drama School, where he remained until his death of colon cancer at age 60.

Psacharopoulos was a co-founder of the Williamstown Theater Festival in 1955, based in the Adams Memorial Theater on the campus of Williams College. Psacharopoulos went on to serve as WTF's sole artistic executive director for 33 years, creating a professional summer theater that was more than a typical summer stock escapist operation. Under Psacharopoulos' leadership, WTF specialized in the plays of Anton Chekhov and Bertolt Brecht, as well as the work of many classic American playwrights such as Tennessee Williams, Thornton Wilder, Arthur Miller, and Archibald MacLeish. Psacharopoulos traveled often between his Greek homeland and New York City, his main residence, where he staged theater productions with the Circle-in-the-Square, the New York Pro Musica, and City Opera.