The large-looming position of Richard Schechner (born 1934 in Newark, New Jersey) in the world of theater is multi-dimensional. As a director, performance theoretician, pioneer in environmental theater, founder of the Performance Studies department at New York University, and investigator of ritual and performance internationally. Throughout much of his career, beginning in 1962, he has edited The Drama Review, a seminal publication that expands concepts of theater. Instrumental in bringing Jerzy Grotowski’s teaching to New York, Richard Schechner founded the Performance Group in 1967, culminating in its production Dionysus in 69, and then morphing into the Wooster Group.