Alan Mandell, star of ‘Godot’ and other Beckett plays, dies at 98

An actor, producer and director, he also managed several theater companies. But he was best known for his performances in works by Samuel Beckett.

Alan Mandell, an acclaimed classical actor and one of the foremost interpreters of playwright Samuel Beckett’s work, died Tuesday at his home in Westwood. He was 98. Representatives for Mandell’s family confirmed his death to The Times. Mandell started his theater career in the early 1950s as the artistic director of Theater ‘49 in Toronto. While visiting his sister, he started to work with the San Francisco Actor’s Workshop in 1954. During his time with the theater group, his collaboration with co-founders Jules Irving and Herbert Blau helped transform the workshop into one of the first regional theater companies in the U. S. “My one-week vacation turned into a 12-year stay,” Mandell told The Times in 1992 about what was meant to be a short trip. During an Actor’s Workshop production of Beckett’s absurdist play “Waiting for Godot” in San Quentin Prison, his portrayal of Lucky inspired the prisoners and led to the creation of the San Quentin Drama Workshop with inmate Rick Cluchey. The troupe operated from 1958 through 1965, making it the first extended prison theater program in the U. S. launched by prisoners. John N.

Montreal firefighters responded to a fire at a three-storey building in the Côte-des-Neiges–Notre-Dame-de-Grâce neighbourhood on Monday evening. About 150 firefighters were called to the scene. Firefighters received a call around 9 p.m. about a fire near the intersection of Rue du Frère-André and Rue Coronet. The fire began at the back of the building, which […] The post 150 Montreal firefighters respond to three-alarm blaze in CDN-NDG appeared first on CityNews Montreal .

A United Conservative Party politician who promoted a petition pushing for a referendum on separation says he will not seek re-election. Red Deer-South MLA Jason Stephan said in a statement released Monday evening that he sought to “speak the truth as best as I understand it” because his “duty is to seek freedom and prosperity for Alberta.”Stephan, who served as parliamentary secretary for constitutional affairs in Premier Danielle Smith’s government, promoted a petition earlier this year that pushed for a referendum on separation. Albertans overwhelmingly rejected the idea of holding a formal referendum on separation Monday, with around 76 per cent voting to remain part of Canada. “Canada could be the most free and prosperous nation on earth, but it is not,” Stephan said in his statement, which cited Texas as having a larger gross domestic product than Canada. Story continues below advertisement

Bruised but not yet broken, Alberta’s separatist movement is turning its attention toe Premier Danielle Smith and the governing United Conservative Party. As results continued to trickle in early Tuesday morning, the separatists’ defeat proved even more decisive than months of public polling predicted — with 75.7 per cent of Albertans voting to remain in Canada, and just 24.3 per cent voting to trigger an independence referendum. It was a staggering blow to the separatist movement, and a massive win for the volunteers and politicians who campaigned for months against independence. The impact of the vote was less clear for Smith — who despite officially supporting the remain side, was seen as being sympathetic to the separatist cause and triggered the vote in the first place. It doesn’t appear that Smith will get her wish that Albertans will simply accept the results of the referendum and move on. Story continues below advertisement