Haskell Fitz-Simons

UPDATE May 14 5:00pm: The funeral for Haskell Fitz-Simons’ will be Tuesday, May 21 at 4 p.m. at St. Michael’s Episcopal Church, 1520 Canterbury Road, Raleigh. A reception will follow in the church’s fellowship hall. The family has requested that in lieu of flowers donations be made to Raleigh Little Theatre or Wake County Animal Shelter.

Haskell Fitz-Simons, the longtime artistic director of Raleigh Little Theatre, died last night at UNC Hospitals following a lengthy battle with lymphoma. He was 64. The Chapel Hill native had served as a director at the prominent Raleigh community theater for 30 years, joining the company in 1983. Before that, Fitz-Simons had been a drama and speech instructor at University of Wisconsin at Superior. His theatrical resume included work with the Light Opera of Manhattan, an apprenticeship at the Alley Theatre in Houston, and seasons with the Manteo, N.C., outdoor drama The Lost Colony. Fitz-Simons earned his MFA in theater from UNC Chapel Hill in 1979.

“His death was so sudden and unexpected,” RLT executive director Charles Phaneuf said this morning.

“From the outpouring of support, it’s clear that his legacy is not only about the fact that he directed so many shows for us and was here for so many years. People today are talking about the spirit of Haskell, his mentorship, and how many lives he touched.”

Fitz-Simons came to the stage from a theatrical family. As a child, he performed with other family members in summer productions of Unto These Hills, the Cherokee, N.C., outdoor drama. His parents also had a hand in notable early productions by Raleigh Little Theatre. In 1936, his mother, born Marion Tatum, directed RLT’s second production, the African-American drama Heaven Bound; Fitz-Simons would later direct her in a 1984 RLT production of Deathtrap. His father, Foster, was a novelist, a dancer who worked with modern dance choreographer Ted Shawn, and an actor who performed at RLT in the 1940s and taught at UNC Chapel Hill’s Department of Dramatic Art.

Fitz-Simons’ last production for the company was a December 2012 restaging of the company’s holiday classic, Cinderella. He also directed The Rocky Horror Show in August and The 39 Steps in October.

Funeral and memorial service arrangements are incomplete.