Remembering Spiro Veloudos, former artistic director of Lyric Stage Company

Spiro Veloudos, who transformed theater in Boston, has died at 71. His sister, Sheila Demetriadis, confirmed his death on Tuesday, Oct. 3.

On Thursday, Veloudos announced his retirement as the Lyric's artistic director, but leaves a lasting legacy as one of the most important figures in Boston theater’s recent history. When Veloudos, who grew up in Springfield and attended Emerson, opened his first season at the Lyric with Neil Simon’s “Lost in Yonkers,” it didn’t seem as if the wheel was being reinvented. But it was. Everything about the production was sure-footed — the cast, the set and, most of all, the direction by Veloudos himself. Though Simon is often dismissed as a lightweight, Veloudos found the emotional soul of the play and everything flowed from there.

It was a tour de force that raised the bar. Veloudos made midsize theater essential to the city’s artistic identity. And he wasn’t alone. A director named Scott Edmiston had come to town and staged a production of Brian Friel’s “Molly Sweeney” that rivaled the Broadway production of a few years earlier at the Nora Theatre Company. And before long, other midsize companies were doing exemplary work as well — SpeakEasy, New Repertory Theater and the late lamented Sugan.

His talent was rewarded with a StageSource Theatre Hero Award in 2003 and the Elliot Norton Award for Sustained Excellence in 2006. Boston Magazine named him Best Artistic Director in 1999. Veloudos has long been suffering from Type 2 diabetes and an infection led to an amputation of his left leg in December of 2016. “I can’t deny the fact that all the health issues over the last three years added to that thought. Given the fact that three years ago I was not at work for 90 days and then again later that year after ‘Camelot’ opened I ended up in hospital again for a good part of the summer. Last February I fell and my left knee became swollen and I couldn't walk.

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