ALMANAC.

BECKETT, Samuel, 1906-1989; CHAIKIN, Joseph, 1935-2003

This article highlights the important events related to theater in the U.S. that occurred in the past. In 1961, Samuel Beckett's Happy Days premieres at New York City's Cherry Lane Playhouse. Forty-one years later, it will open again and will be Joseph Chaikin's final directorial project in New York. In 1971, the Kennedy Center of Washington, D.C., opens its doors, largely thanks to President Eisenhower's 1958 National Cultural Center Act. In 1981, The New York Times prints a letter opposing the demolition of the historic Helen Hayes, Morosco and Bijou theatres to make way for the Marriott Marquis Hotel.