In Memoriam: HONEY WALDMAN
December, 2013
HONEY WALDMAN was involved with just about every aspect of theatrical activity. Starting with
being an apprentice at the Ogunquit Playhouse in Maine, graduating into her first paid position
working for Miss Duffy at the Shubert office ushering! During spring break On the Town, during
Christmas break Othello, saw each show 12 times, and was paid for it. Glorious! Then to actress,
prop girl, backstage technician, stage manager, producer, and theatre owner, having built and
owned the Tappan Zee Playhouse (now the nonprofit theatre in Nyack, known as the Helen
Hayes Performing Arts Center). The Playhouse established a national reputation for professional
productions and all-star casts that included Jack Benny, Helen Hayes, and Liza Minnelli. She built and operated the Off Broadway Bouwerie Lane Theatre, and produced the highly successful Family Business at the Astor Place Theatre, as her own theatre was fully booked. Honey established the Honey Waldman Fund at the League of Professional Theatre Women as a special fund for members in need. She majored in English at Emerson, with a minor in speech and drama, and established the Waldman Chair in Theater Arts, in the Emerson Department of
Performing Arts in 2007, funded by Honey Waldman (Emerson ’46) and her sister, Gladys
Waldman Brownstein, in honor of their parents, Harry Waldman and Dora Winiker. Suzan Lori
Parks is the 2013 Waldman Chair at Emerson.
