Renown Scenic Designer of A CHRISTMAS CAROL Passes at 94 Years of Age.
John Davis Ezell, internationally recognized scenic designer, educator, artist, mentor and longtime champion of the American theatre, died September 24, 2026 at age 94. Over a career spanning six decades and hundreds of productions, Ezell brought to the stage an extraordinary combination of visual imagination, historical scholarship, theatrical invention and deep respect for the playwright. His designs appeared on Broadway, New York City, major American regional theatres, opera and ballet companies, as well as on stages in Europe, Asia and Africa. Just as important, generations of his protégés carry his ethics, standards and methods into professional theatres and classrooms throughout the United States.
Kansas City was among Ezell’s early artistic homes. He was brought to Kansas City by Dr. Patricia McIlrath, the Founder of both the Missouri Repertory Theater (now Kansas City Repertory Theater) and the Department of Theater at the University of Missouri - Kansas City. She chose Ezell, as a world-class luminary, to head the design programs in the department, and to anchor the scene design experiences of the directors that she was brought in, from around the country and world. She also knew that he would offer the best possible collaboration with local and regional directors.
Dr. McIlrath’s repertory of plays focused on classic American and world playwrights, and world renown directors. Ezell was their perfect match and host in Kansas City. Ezell designed the heart of the company's productions, including Eliot’s Murder in the Cathedral (1972), O’Neill’s Long Day’s Journey Into Night (1972), Simon’s Barefoot in the Park (1972), Ibsen’s Peer Gynt (1974), Chekhov ‘s The Cherry Orchard (1975), Williams’ Streetcar Named Desire (1975), Schiller’s Mary Stuart (1976), Feydeau’s The Happy Hunter (1979), and Bagnold’s The Chalk Garden (1980).
Ezell designed these with noted international directors such as John Reich, a protégée of Max Reinhardt, and Robert Speaight of the Royal Academy, London, and renowned American directors Adrian Hall, Albert Marre, John O’Shaughnessy, as well as brilliant regional directors Francis Cullinan and James Assad. Assad and Ezell were chosen by McIlrath to stage the original production of A Christmas Carol in 1981, 45 years ago!
With Artistic Director George Keathly, Ezell also spearheaded scenic design during the Missouri Rep’s second Golden Age. Keathley was committed to decades of spectacular catharsis-driven productions. He entrusted that work to Ezell, beginning with Cullinan’s macabre Lady Audley’s Secret (1981), followed by MacLaughlin’s Crown of Thorn (1982), Barrie’s Peter Pan (1985), O’Neill’s The Emperor Jones (1987), Costin’s The Curious Adventures of Alice (1988), Schaffer’s The Royal Hunt of the Sun (1998) and Amadeus (1990) as well as Hampton’s Les Liaisons Dangereuses (1998). Ezell also produced memorable designs for other works, such as Marshall/Bateman Piaf: La Vie L’amour (1993), Robertson’s Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill (1992) and numerous Shakespearean dramas.
All in all, Ezell designed more than 75 productions for Kansas City Repertory Theatre (previously Missouri Repertory Theatre), making an extraordinary contribution to the company's visual identity.
Ezell's design philosophy and work were inseparable from his teaching at UMKC. Ezell imbued his students with the belief that theatre should be both a professional laboratory and an extended classroom. Even as Dr. McIlraith and he had desired, allowing students to witness the process of taking a design from research and drawing through illustration, models, painting, construction, technical rehearsal and ultimately performance.
Every year, John Ezell’s stunning scenic design for A CHRISTMAS CAROL continues to brighten the holiday season at the KC Rep Main Stage, the Spencer Theater. The cinematographic and hallucinatory scenic effects, transport The Rep’s audiences to Charles Dickens’ nineteenth century London and a world of mystery and mirth. The original design still shines brightly after almost half a century!
Ezell’s contributions to education are as enduring as are those of his art. In 1994, Ezell adapted the historic concept of the charrette, a concentrated, collaborative design process rooted in the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, into a rigorous training method for theatrical designers. His approach compressed research, conceptual development, illustration, model-making, critique and revision into an intensive period in which designers had to make decisions, test ideas and respond to one another under demanding conditions. The method became an influential part of theatre-design education and was adopted by design programs across the United States. For Ezell, the charrette was more than an exercise in speed: it taught designers to trust research, embrace collaboration, articulate a visual idea and then have the discipline to revise it. Its continuing use by theatre-design programs stands among his most enduring contributions to education.
Ezell is survived by his longtime partner and collaborator, Gene Emerson Friedman, who worked alongside him for decades as a fellow designer and educator at UMKC and who serves as estate archivist and curator for the John Ezell Collection; his sister, Judy (Ezell) Murphy; his sister-in-law, Linda (Rankin) Ezell; and numerous nieces and nephews.
Those who wish to honor John Ezell's legacy of artistry, excellence and education are invited to donate to the John Ezell Collection at Washington University in St. Louis. A fitting and appreciated tribute to a designer whose work and teaching, will continue to inspire the American stage for generations to come.
Please visit: giving.washu.edu/JohnDavisEzell
