Introduction: "you have to hock your house: the story of a producer" -- Privilege with a price: Washington, Princeton, and early theatre efforts -- Playing with martians: stage and screen with Orson Welles and the Mercury Theatre -- A theatrical warrior: Lieutenant Richard Barr -- Learning the director's craft: stock, Broadway, and City Center -- Broadway beginnings: Ethyl Waters, Ruth Draper, and theatrical collage -- The zoo story: discovering Edward Albee -- Producers at work: on Broadway, off-Broadway, and off-off Broadway -- Experimenting with Edward Malcolm to all over -- Hocking the house: Seascape to Sweeney Todd -- Brightening Broadway's lights: Barr's legacy to the American theatre -- Afterword / Edward Albee.