We lost Steve on February 7, 2023.  Steve Brown wrote:

 Unfortunately, Steve Lawson died last week of natural causes at his home in Williamstown.   I have attached below the obituary that appeared in the Berkshire Eagle.

       All of us  enjoyed seeing Steve at our 50th and attending his session on Stephen Sondheim ’50. Alongside Gordie Clapp, Steve demonstrated his legendary story telling ability and quick wit.  You can watch the video here.  A conversation or communication with Steve was always a delight – mixing anecdotes of contacts with famous friends in the entertainment business with huge doses of insight and dry humor (frequently self-deprecating). At Williams, he was President of Cap & Bells, actor or director on 30 productions, a Junior Advisor, house officer, and won the Gilbert W. Gabriel, Class of 1912 Award in Theatre and Hubbard Hutchinson prize (for demonstrated exceptional talents in the creative arts). Steve also served ’71  as our Class Secretary from 1991-2001, and worked on the 25th Reunion Book.  

    In addition to his many accomplishments listed in the Berkshire Eagle article below, Steve will be remembered for his one-man plays A Distant Country Called Youth and Blanche and Beyond based on Tennessee Williams’ letters (which were performed at the Kennedy Center and published by Samuel French), television credits including a Christopher Award and a Humanitas Prize nomination, “St. Elsewhere” (for which he co-wrote the first teleplay on AIDS), “The Elephant Man,” and the Emmy-winning “ Broadway Dreamers: The Legacy of the Group Theatre.”

     Please share your own recollections or pictures of Steve by sending them  to John Ackroff at [email protected] to post on our class website at williams71.org or posting them there yourself.

From the Berkshire Eagle.

Steve was born in Rye, N.Y., and graduated from Rye High School in 1967.  He graduated from Williams College in 1971 with a BA in English, and from Yale University School of Drama in 1976 with an MFA in Drama.  At Williams, he was an active participant in Cap & Bells, receiving the Gilbert Gabriel award, and began his long association with the Williamstown Theatre Festival.  He was part of the Theatre Festival for over 50 years, as an actor, writer, dramaturg, and director.  He was a founder of the Free Theatre, and was instrumental in setting up and being a member of the late-night Cabaret for many years.

A prolific student of film, he founded and ran the Williamstown Film Festival for 15 years.  He took great joy in bringing independent films and documentaries to the Berkshires, along with their actors, writers and directors.  [ SDB Note: please check out Steve’s personal statement on pages 161-62 in our 50th book titled my Mussolini Complex in which he describes his role in the wonderful Williamstown Film Festival].

His writing talents were evident.  He wrote for television, including St. Elsewhere and The Dick Cavett Show, nationally for publications as diverse as the New York Times, Travel and Leisure and Saturday Review, and more locally for the Williams Alumni Review.  He held an early position with Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City, before settling in Williamstown fulltime.

He is survived by his brother Jon and sister-in-law Nicole of Rhinebeck, NY.   There will be no memorial service.  Donations in Steve’s memory can be made to the Williamstown Theatre Festival.

An addition from John Ackroff, illustrating Steve Brown’s remark about Steve’s self-deprecating sense of humor:

Steve was also awarded the Thurston Bowl at our 25th Reunion.   The description of this prize is

For distinguished service as class secretary. This award was donated by the family and friends of Ted Thurston, Class of 1912, who wrote Class Notes for 65 years. During that time, Ted missed only one deadline—and only because he forgot to send his completed notes to the magazine.

The last time I spoke with Steve, we talked about this.  He said there was a slip of paper in in, and when he got back to his seat he read it.  “Please return the Bowl before leaving the gymnasium.”  He said “I guess I wasn’t good enough to get to keep it for a year.”

Steve was the Executive Director of the Williamstown Film Festival for most of its run, and he presented some shorts from previous seasons at our 35th Reunion, with Gordon Clapp as his co-host.