Alan L. Woods

Dr. Alan L. Woods, 82, professor of Theatre and Director of the Lawrence & Lee Theatre Research Institute at Ohio State University—brave, gentle, beloved husband and father—lost his battle with heart disease on May 7, 2025. 

A force in American theater studies, Alan was a member of the Dramatists’ Guild and the Central Ohio Theatre Roundtable, first dramaturg of Columbus’ Contemporary American Theatre Company (CATCO), founding member of the Senior Theatre League of America, member of the Literary Managers and Dramaturges, and an inductee of The College of Fellows of the American Theatre. In his 39 years at Ohio State, he held appointments in both the Department of Theatre and OSU Libraries, built the Lawrence & Lee Theatre Research Institute (TRI) into a major research treasure, taught classes in Theatre History and, on occasion, performed and directed. Essays he wrote in his edition, The Selected Plays of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, remain the standard. 

Alan will also be remembered for his tireless support for women scholars, both in his department and beyond, and his pioneering work in Audio Description for the Blind and Sight Impaired that gave many their first direct access to live theatre and film performances via FM receivers—and he taught others the art in workshops throughout Ohio and surrounding states. 

He once wrote that, beyond his joy in inspiring others, he was proudest of promoting and encouraging playwriting—“the life’s blood of live theatre”—through the Heckart Competition, the archives of hundreds of individual playwrights at the TRI with the International Centre for Women Playwrights collection and the African American Playwrights’ Exchange, arranging student interviews with living playwrights, as well as establishing the archives of Jerome Lawrence and Robert E. Lee, Don Nigro, and others. Playwright Adrienne Kennedy, whom Alan persuaded to set aside her memories and return to OSU for the first time since graduating 1953, later wrote him, “I feel it is a turning point for me.” 

Growing up along the north shore of Massachusetts, Alan understood the power of theatre from childhood, drawn to the Arts by one teacher in particular, renowned local writer/poet and Arts advocate, Vincent Ferrini. By the time he entered Columbia University in 1960, he had already done summer stock in Massachusetts, New Jersey, and New York State, worked Off-Broadway and Off Off Broadway, and stage-managed a company that toured musicals through southeast Texas and Louisiana. It was at Columbia, volunteering with Barnard College’s theater group, Wigs & Cues, that he and Ann first met, and it was in Columbia’s St. Paul’s Chapel that they married in August, 1967. 

At his retirement in 2011, the Central Ohio Theater Critics Circle honored him with the Roy Bowen Lifetime Achievement Award, citing “his decades of work as a teacher, dramaturg, director, playwright, actor and audio description pioneer; for launching the Eileen Heckart playwriting competition to provide new works for older actors; and for mentoring generations of students, who have gone on to work in every realm of theater.” 

Dr. Joy Reilly, OSU professor and theater critic as well as his former student, introduced the Award, describing Alan as “one of the best known faces in the Ohio theatre community, having probably participated in more theatre events in Central Ohio than anyone else here today–in front of the stage, on stage, backstage, and in the audience.” Mark Shanda, former chair of Theatre and then Interim Dean of Arts and Humanities at OSU, spoke of Alan’s “30 years…[developing the TRI] from its original, primary holdings, the McDowell Film Archives, to one of the premiere theatre research …resources in the world. … Literally thousands of students, alumni, and donors…have benefited from Alan’s able leadership of this unique resource. The many personal connections that he developed have resulted in…the Robert Breen Collection, [the] Eileen Heckart, Ted Lange and Meridee Stein papers, Earl Wilson files, American Theatre Critics Association papers, and the Twyla Tharp archives, as well as numerous regional theatre and new play collections. The impact Alan… had on the expansion and usefulness of the TRI cannot be overestimated.” A colleague added, “Alan… transformed the TRI from a file cabinet in the corner of an academic office into the [now world renowned] Centerpiece of the renovated Thompson Library.” 

He was a memorable and impactful teacher as well. At the Bowen Award, Chris Jones, Alan’s former student and still chief theatre critic of the Chicago Tribune, recalled an experience from about 1985. Alan “actually seemed to liked having us all-opinion, no-fact grad students round at his house to meet with his old friend Howard Kissell of the [New York] Daily News. What an incredible job, I thought. … Without that party 25 years ago, I’m not sure I’d do what I now do. The theater world is full of people wanting to get their projects—themselves—out there. But critics have to pay attention to the audience, and among Alan’s incredible array of qualities–generosity, smarts, humor, a profound base of knowledge, an embrace of mentorship—that’s what sticks out for me most. It has been a formidable contribution. He…worked tirelessly to make the American theater more central in more lives,…accessible for more people—one audio description at a time, one better-trained critic at a time. …[and] always embraced new work. [He] loved artists who take risks. He taught me what little I know about this art. I’m always incredibly proud to say he was once my advisor.” 

After retiring, Alan continued his theater work, presenting workshops and short courses in dramaturgy at state, regional, national, and international conferences, including one in South Africa, as well as writing an array of short plays that gave substantive roles to elder performers, among them humorous sequels and and prequels to Shakespeare’s works. Eventually, he had plays performed on every continent. Audiences of Dublin (Ohio) Senior Players also saw him perform regularly in Michael Shirtzinger’s ingenious “radio” mysteries, sometimes even taking on double roles. All this, while simultaneously offering free-of-charge historical, biographical, literary, and critical research assistance on plays, playwrights, performers, producing, physical theatre structures, audience composition, performance contextualization, and guidance for works in progress. 

Alan, a Vietnam Combat Veteran, earned several medals, including the Bronze Star for Valor and the Army Commendation Medal. Several photographs he took there were published in the U.S. After service, he earned his M.A. and Ph.D. at the University of Southern California, then came to OSU with his young family in 1972. This was his dream job—the prospect of building the Theatre Research Institute. 

He is survived by his wife of 58 years, historian, calligrapher, book artist, Dr. Ann Alaia Woods; daughter, Kathryn Woods Prentice, retired Navy Senior Chief Antisubmarine Warfare Specialist, son-in-law, Navy Chief Aerographer’s Mate, Patrick Prentice, and granddaughter, Summer Grace Prentice, all of Creston, IA; and brother, Gary Woods of Delanson, NY, and family. 

In lieu of other gifts, please consider donations to The Woods Family Fund for the Arts (#1955) at www.columbusfoundation.org.