Jack Gelber has functioned in many roles, having been a playwright, screenwriter, novelist, director, and teacher; however, he is known primarily for his poetic antiestablishment play, The Connection, and for his association with the Living Theatre in the late 1950s and early 1960s. Over the last twenty years he has actively contributed to American experimental drama and has taught in colleges and universities.

Gelber was born in Chicago in 1932 and attended the University of Illinois, receiving his degree in journalism in 1953. He married Carol Westenberg on 22 December 1957, and they have two children, Jed and Amy. In New York, Gelber became involved with an experimental company, the Living Theatre, which produced his first play, The Connection , in 1959. The historical importance of this production is that it collapsed the traditional distance separating the audience from the performers and made remarkable--and frightening--use of deliberate improvisation during the performance of the play...