Holding a B.S. degree in Theatre and Journalism from Boston University where he won the Rodgers & Hammerstein Award, and an M.F.A. from the Yale School of Drama, Amnon Kabatchnik was a member of the Director’s Unit with the Actor’s Studio in New York. Later, he was appointed Professor of Theatre at SUNY Binghamton, Stanford University, Ohio State University, Florida State University, and Elmira College. Off Broadway, Kabatchnik directed, among other plays, the American premiere of Anton Chekhov’s A Country Scandal (Platonov); Evenings with Chekhov; Vincent, a drama about Van Gogh; revivals of Maxwell Anderson’s Winterset and John Willard’s The Cat and the Canary. At the Phoenix Theatre, he served as assistant to Tyrone Guthrie on Friedrich Schiller’s Mary Stuart and Karl Capek’s The Makropolous Secret, and to Tony Richardson on Eugéne Ionesco’s The Chairs and The Lesson. Kabatchnik’s work in New York earned him the Lola D’Annunzio Honorary Citation for Outstanding Contribution to the Off-Broadway Theatre. Kabatchnik directed numerous dramas, comedies, thrillers and musicals for national road companies, resident theatres, and summer stock. Crime-tinged plays he staged include Arsenic and Old Lace, Angel Street, The Mousetrap, Ten Little Indians, Dracula, Sleuth, Wait until Dark, Dial M for Murder, and A Shot in the Dark. He also directed productions in Israel and Canada. Kabatchnik wrote a weekly column of book reviews for the Tallahassee Democrat, the Corning Leader, the Star-Gazette of Elmira, N.Y., and the Chemung Valley Reporter. He also contributed articles and reviews to The Armchair Detective, Mystery News, Clues and other journals in the field of suspense. Blood on the Stage and Sherlock Holmes on the Stage are the culmination of Kabatchnik’s life-long work in the theatre and his passion for collecting play scripts, non-fiction works, critical books, novels, and short story compilations in the field of crime and suspense.
Directing Credits
A Country Scandal (Platonov) by Anton Chekhov
Call It Virtue by Luigi Pirandello
Evenings with Chekhov by Anton Chekhov
Ladies in Retirement by Edward Percy & Reginald Denham
The Buskers by Kenneth Jupp
The Cat and the Canary by John Willard
Vincent by Francis Gallagher
Winterset by Maxwell Anderson
The Tenth Man by Paddy Chayefsky
The Megillah by Itzik Manger
Asolo State Theatre, Sarasota, Florida
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
Showboat Theatre, Clinton, Iowa
How the Other Half Loves by Alan Ayckbourn
The Barn Playhouse, New London, New Hampshire
Thrillers/ Crime:
Angel Street (Gaslight) by Patrick Hamilton
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott
Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
Dramas:
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
The Dark at the Top of the Stairs by William Inge
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Our Town by Thornton Wilder
Comedies:
Alone Together by Lawrence Roman
Auntie Mame by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon
The Fourposter by Jan de Hartog
Three Men on a Horse by George Abbott and John Cecil Holm
Two for the Seesaw by William Gibson
Mr. Roberts by Thomas Heggen and Joshua Logan
A Thousand Clowns by Herb Gardner
Gigi by Colette and Anita Loos
Tunnel of Love by Peter De Vries and Joseph Fields
The Happiest Millionaire by Kyle Crichton
Musicals:
Bell Are Ringing
Brigadoon
Bye Bye Birdie
Call Me Madam
Carousel
Finnian’s Rainbow
Guys and Dolls
Kiss Me Kate
Man of La Mancha
My Fair Lady
Oklahoma
Pajama Game
Plain and Fancy
The King and I
Wonderful Town
Thrillers/ Crime:
A Shot in the Dark by Marcel Achard
An Evening with Sherlock Holmes by Michael and Mollie Hardwick
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Pristley
Catch Me If You Can by Robert Thomas
Cliffhanger by James Yaffe
Dial “M” for Murder by Frederick Knott
Murder by R.S.V.P. by Joseph Gath
Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer
Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie
The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
The Spiral Staircase by F. Andrew Leslie
Comedies:
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon
Chapter II by Neil Simon
Come Blow Your Horn by Neil Simon
I Ought to be in Pictures by Neil Simon
Forty Carats by Jay Allen
Florida State University:
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Angel Street (Gaslight) by Patrick Hamilton
Count Dracula by Ted Tiller
The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Picnic by William Inge
Ohio State University:
Orpheus Descending by Tennessee Williams
Stanford University:
A Far Country by Henry Denker
The Days and Nights of Beebee Fenstermaker by Paul Zindel
Brooklyn College:
Barefoot in the Park by Neil Simon
SUNY, Binghamton:
The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman
Black Comedy by Peter Shaffer
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Inherit the Wind by Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee
Antigone by Jean Anouilh
Arms and the Man by George Bernard Shaw
Summertree by Ron Cowen
Elmira College:
Thrillers/ Crime:
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson
Crimes at the Old Brewery by Tim Kelly
Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken
Dramas:
A Dolls House by Henrick Ibsen
A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
Picnic by William Inge
The Diary of Anne Frank by Frances Goodrich and Albert Hackett
The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
The Miracle Worker by William Gibson
Comedies:
Brighton Beach Memoirs by Neil Simon
Gigi by Colette and Anita Loos
Musicals:
Babes in Arms
Brigadoon
Carnival
Damn Yankees
Fiddler on the Roof
Kiss Me Kate
Man of La Mancha
Once Upon a Mattress
Habimah National Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel
Genesis by Aharon Megged
High Season by Aharon Megged
Island of Aphrodite by A. Parnis
Zavit Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel
A Far Country by Henry Denker
Alhambra Theatre, Tel Aviv, Israel
Fiddler on the Roof, Co-Director
Saidye Bronfman Theatre, Montreal, Canada
The Tenth Man by Paddy Chayefsky
A Shot in the Dark by Marcel Achard
An Evening with Sherlock Holmes by Michael and Mollie Hardwick
An Inspector Calls by J.B. Pristley
Angel Street (Gaslight) by Patrick Hamilton
Arsenic and Old Lace by Joseph Kesselring
Bad Seed by Maxwell Anderson
The Cat and the Canary by John Willard
Catch Me If You Can by Robert Thomas
Cliffhanger by James Yaffe
Count Dracula by Ted Tiller
Crimes at the Old Brewery by Tim Kelly
Dial “M” for Murder by Frederick Knott
Dracula by Hamilton Deane and John L. Balderston
Ladies in Retirement by Edward Percy & Reginald Denham
Little Shop of Horrors by Howard Ashman and Alan Menken
The Mousetrap by Agatha Christie
Murder by R.S.V.P. by Joseph Gath
Night Watch by Lucille Fletcher
No Exit by Jean-Paul Sartre
Sleuth by Anthony Shaffer
Ten Little Indians by Agatha Christie
The Heiress by Ruth and Augustus Goetz
The Little Foxes by Lillian Hellman
The Spiral Staircase by F. Andrew Leslie
Wait Until Dark by Frederick Knott
Winterset by Maxwell Anderson
Articles