Lawrence M. Opitz
Professor Emeritus of Theater Lawrence M. Opitz, whose extraordinary versatility as a teacher, designer, director, and actor helped shape Skidmore’s theater program for nearly five decades and fostered a love of Shakespeare among generations of students and audiences in the Capital Region and beyond, died Monday, June 22, one week before his 78th birthday.
Lary joined the Skidmore College faculty in 1974 as technical director in the Department of Theater and retired in 2023 after 49 years of service. During that time, he served in many roles, including department chair in the early 1990s and again from 2006 to 2016. He played a central role in the department’s growth, the development of generations of student artists, and the evolution of the College’s performance spaces and programs.
Colleague and Skidmore alumna Sue Kessler ’99 described Lary’s “indelible” impact on Skidmore Theater and a versatile career that reflected Skidmore’s Creative Thought Matters ethos.
“His various talents led him to reinvent and expand his artistry, from design and technical theater, to acting, directing, and playwriting, thus demonstrating the Skidmore spirit of exploration and versatility,” she said upon his retirement in 2023. “He also instilled a love of Shakespeare in students and was instrumental in building programs and opportunities for them to work within that genre.”
A self-described “total theater artist,” Lary brought an unusually broad range of professional experience to his teaching. He worked as a designer, producer, director, playwright, stage manager, technician, consultant, and actor in theater, opera, dance, and film. His designs were seen throughout the United States and internationally, including during nine years as resident designer for the renowned José Limón Dance Company. He was a member of four Broadway guilds and unions, reflecting the exceptional breadth of his professional life.
At Skidmore, he designed scenery, lighting, costumes, sound, and properties for well over 100 productions and directed numerous plays, including works by Shakespeare, Franz Kafka, James Joyce, and contemporary playwrights.
An inspiring teacher and mentor, Lary developed and taught courses across the theater curriculum, including introductory coursework and classes on Shakespeare, directing, design, stage management, and production. He also taught the first-year Scribner Seminar Shakespeare Was Jewish? and regularly offered internship, career planning, and audition workshops for students preparing for professional careers in theater. Many of his students went on to successful careers in theater, film, and television.
Lary shaped the College’s artistic life and strengthened its connections to the broader community. He helped design Skidmore’s Fieldhouse Theater in the 1970s and worked on the planning and design of the Janet Kinghorn Bernhard Theater, which opened in 1987. He also contributed to the establishment of the Arts Administration Program and served on several major College committees, including the Committee on Educational Policies and Planning and the Committee on Appointments, Promotions, and Tenure.
He undertook some of his most enduring accomplishments with his wife, Barbara Opitz, whom he met while they were students and who survives him. In 1994, the couple developed the London-based Shakespeare Programme in partnership with the British American Dramatic Academy. The program became a transformative study abroad experience for students from Skidmore and colleges across the country.
He and Barbara were also central to the Saratoga Shakespeare Company, which for many
summers brought free professional productions of Shakespeare to audiences in Saratoga
Springs.
Born June 29, 1948, Lary earned his bachelor’s degree in theater and studio art from
Queens College of the City University of New York and studied conceptual-based designing
with top Broadway designers at the renowned Studio and Forum of Stage Design in New
York City. Before joining Skidmore, he worked extensively in professional theater
in New York City, taught graduate classes at Columbia University's Teachers College,
and helped build Queens Playhouse, the first professional regional theater in the
borough of Queens.
Lary is survived by his wife, Barbara; his sons, Seth Opitz ’98 and Noah Opitz ’01; their partners Yael and Randi; and his granddaughter Mayim.