Gorelik, Mordecai

(1899-1990)

   Born in Russia, Mordecai Gorelik came to America in his youth to study at the Pratt Institute and under several scene designers, notably Robert Edmond Jones, Norman Bel Geddes, and Serge Soudeikine. His first designs were on a modest scale for the Provincetown Players beginning in 1920, but he developed into one of Broadway's most important scenic artists, creating designs for John Howard Lawson's Processional (1925), Sidney Kingsley's* Pulitzer PRiZE-winningMen in White* (1933), three Clifford Odets* plays—Golden Boy* (1937), Rocket to the Moon* (1938), and Night Music* (1940)—and, after World War II, Arthur Miller's* All My Sons* (1947) and Michael Gazzo's A Hatful of Rain* (1957), among many others, as well as contributing set designs to productions of the Neighborhood Playhouse and for The Group Theatre.* Inspired by Adolphe Appia and Edward Gordon Craig, as well as Bertolt Brecht's epic theatre, Gorelik also taught design and wrote several books on theatrical art, including New Theatres for Old (1940).

   See also scenery.