Martin Edward Andrucki

He was born in the Bronx, New York, on October 11, 1945 to George and Ann Andrucki. He graduated from Mount Saint Michael Academy in the Bronx in 1963 and Columbia University in 1967, where he majored in English. He completed his PhD in English at Harvard in 1975. He married Judith Winter in 1971 in New York City.

He began teaching at Bates in 1974 and from 2001 until his retirement in 2021, he was Charles A. Dana Professor of Theater at Bates College. Beloved by his students, he taught the history and theory of the stage and directed students in plays at Bates almost every year. For many years he was the Chair of the Department of Theater and Rhetoric. Upon his retirement, in his honor, the Black Box Theater at Bates was renamed the Martin Andrucki Black Box Theater.

He directed more than fifty productions at Bates and in theaters across the United States and Europe. He served as dramaturg for the Public Theater in Lewiston and wrote a series of interpretive essays for Portland Stage Company. He was the author of four plays, including Manny’s War, which was nominated for the New Play Award of the American Theater Critics Association. In addition to his encyclopedic knowledge of theater history, he was deeply engaged with literature, history, philosophy, and film, and a devout Catholic.

He is survived by his son, Max, of New York City, and his sister Ann Rueckert, of Bryan, Texas, a niece, Laura Andrucki-Izzo, and two nephews, Ronald Rueckert and Kenneth Rueckert. He was predeceased by his wife Judy and his brother George.

In lieu of flowers, gifts may be made to the new Martin and Judith Andrucki Theater Fund at Bates College online at bates.edu/give, or with the fund name in the memo line to: Gifts Processing, Office of College Advancement, Bates College, 2 Andrews Road, Lewiston, ME 04240.

A wake will be held at The Fortin & Pinette Group, 305 Alfred A. Plourde Parkway Lewiston, Thursday, February 12 from 4-7PM. A Mass of Christian Burial will be celebrated on Friday, February 13 at 11AM at the Basilica of Saints Peter and Paul in Lewiston.