In memoriam: Tim Vasen, noted alumnus and Drama School lecturer

Tim Vasen  ’87 B.A., ’93 M.F.A., a lecturer in directing at the Yale School of Drama (YSD), died Dec. 28. He was 51.

Vasen was a lecturer in theater and the Lewis Center for the Arts, and director of the Program in Theater at Princeton University. He directed the world premiere of the unfinished Meyerhold/Prokofiev/Pushkin play “Boris Godunov.” He served as resident director of Centerstage in Baltimore for five seasons, where he directed a range of classics and premieres of new plays, including “No Foreigners Beyond This Point” by Warren Leight, and “The Long Christmas Dinner” and other short plays by Thornton Wilder. Vasen’s freelance work included productions at Playwrights Horizons, South Coast Repertory, The Children’s Theater Company in Minneapolis, and Philadelphia Theater Company.

In addition to the YSD and Princeton, Vasen taught and/or directed in the graduate acting program at New York University’s Tisch Graduate Acting Program, Chautauqua Conservatory, Academy for Classical Acting (Shakespeare Theater), Johns Hopkins, and the La Jolla Playhouse Conservatory.

According to an obituary posted by the Office of Communications at Princeton University, Vasen is survived by his wife, Leslie Brauman, a 1992 graduate of the Yale School of Drama; his children, Sam and Rosie; his mother, Sally Vasen Alter of Culver City, California; his father, Richard Vasen of Houston, Texas; and his brother, Dan Vasen of Corbett, Oregon.

A memorial service was held on the Princeton University campus on Jan. 3.