George Pierce Baker
George Pierce Baker was an influential American educator and playwright born in 1866 in Providence, Rhode Island. He developed a passion for theater early in life, which led him to pursue literary studies at Harvard University after initially starting in pre-med. Baker graduated at twenty-one and became an instructor in the English department, where he remained until 1924. Notably, he founded English 47 in 1906, the first workshop dedicated to playwriting techniques, which included numerous experimental productions and significantly contributed to his national recognition as an educator. In addition to his teaching, Baker was an accomplished literary critic, particularly known for his analyses of William Shakespeare's work. After marrying Christina Hopkinson in 1893 and raising four sons, he transitioned to Yale University in 1925, where he continued to influence dramatic history and technique until his retirement in 1933. Baker passed away in 1935, leaving a lasting legacy through his contributions to theater education and his active participation in local theater.
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George Pierce Baker
Educator
- Born: April 4, 1866
- Birthplace: Providence, Rhode Island
- Died: January 6, 1935
- Place of death: New York, New York
Biography
George Pierce Baker was born in Providence, Rhode Island, in 1866 and was exposed to theater from early on as both a performer and observer. He followed in his father’s footsteps and enrolled at Harvard University, where he was originally in pre- med but later in literary study. He graduated at the age of twenty-one. Rather than move on, Baker stayed as an instructor in the Harvard English department until 1924. In 1906 he founded the English 47 workshop, the very first class on playwriting techniques, which included a plethora of experimental productions that made Baker a nationally recognized educator. A former editor of Harvard Monthly who vastly improved the circulation of the paper, George Baker impressed the English department enough to earn promotions to assistant and later full professor during his tenure at Harvard. In 1893 he married Christina Hopkinson, the niece of Harvard President Charles Eliot, and the two raised four sons together. In 1925 he moved to Yale University and worked there as professor of dramatic history and technique and as director of the university theater. He remained at Yale until his retirement in 1933.
George Baker’s writings were mainly literary criticisms of William Shakespeare’s work and studies of Shakespeare’s development as a dramatist. Baker also published installments of a great deal of the plays written by members of English 47 and other companies, and he remained quite active in local theater as an actor, writer, and director. He died in 1935 at the age of seventy, but by that time his English 47 class had won him world renown from teachers and playwrights alike.