Herb Schapiro

Herb Schapiro (January 20, 1929 – October 17, 2014) was an American playwright, lyricist, poet, and educator whose work spanned theater, television, community arts, and university teaching. His plays were produced at the Actors Studio, Provincetown Playhouse, and Henry Street Playhouse, and his poetry appeared in journals including Virginia Quarterly Review and Helicon.

Schapiro is best known as the co‑creator and co‑lyricist of The Me Nobody Knows, a musical based on writings by New York City schoolchildren. The show premiered Off Broadway in May 1970, where critic Clive Barnes called it “a dark and lovely rock‑folk musical,” and later transferred to Broadway, running for nearly a year. It won an Obie Award and received five Tony Award nominations.

In addition to his theatrical writing, Schapiro taught drama, theater arts, and writing at The New School, the City University of New York, and Rutgers University, and served as a writer‑in‑residence for the National Endowment for the Arts and the U.S. Department of Health, Education, and Welfare. His work frequently engaged with social issues, including prison education, inner‑city arts, and youth expression.

Schapiro lived for many years at Sutton House, a cooperative apartment building at 415 East 52nd Street in Manhattan, which he used as his professional address during his active career. He died at his home in Brooklyn in 2014 from complications of non‑Hodgkin's lymphoma.