Roger Stevens

Stevens, Roger L[acey] (1910–98), producer. He was born in Detroit and studied for a time at the University of Michigan. Having made a considerable fortune in real estate, he entered the producing lists in 1949 with a mounting of Twelfth Night. In 1951 he became a member of the Playwrights' Company, and in 1954 formed the Producers Theatre and co‐founded the American Shakespeare Festival. Stevens was also associated with the Phoenix Theatre for many years, and in 1971 he became the head of the Kennedy Center in Washington. Besides the plays produced with the groups mentioned above, he co‐produced such productions as Tea and Sympathy (1953), Bus Stop (1955), A View from the Bridge (1955), Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (1955), West Side Story (1957), Under the Yum Yum Tree (1960), Mary, Mary (1961), and Finishing Touches (1973).