Harris Alan Erstein, known to his decades of readers and to family, friends and colleagues as Hap, died Saturday in Aventura.
He was 76. Erstein had long suffered from chronic obstructive pulmonary disease.
He was taken ill Monday night after a showing of the latest Jurassic Park film and transported to Aventura Hospital. Doctors there were able to stabilize him, but his health failed later in the week, and he died late Saturday night.
Erstein was one of the finest, and best-known, theater critics in South Florida. For more than 30 years, he supplied trenchant critiques and compelling feature stories about local theater and movies for the Palm Beach Post and Palm Beach ArtsPaper. His ArtsPaper work appeared regularly in The Coastal Star.
“For more than 30 years, Hap has been a beloved member of the South Florida theater community, always illuminating the plays he reviewed, encouraging artists and audiences alike to delve deeper, explore further, sharing his passion for the work with his singular intellect, humor and insight,” said Lou Tyrrell, founder of the FAU Theatre Lab and longtime director of Florida Stage. “His was a beautiful life in the theater.”
A native of suburban Washington, D.C., Erstein earned a bachelor’s degree in literature at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute in Troy, N.Y., and a master’s degree from American University in Washington.
He was a theater critic for The Washington Times from 1982 to 1994, where he was nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in criticism. In 1994, he moved to Florida, where he worked for The Palm Beach Post before retiring in 2008. He had written for Palm Beach ArtsPaper since 2008.
Sue Ellen Beryl, managing director at Palm Beach Dramaworks, praised Erstein’s coverage of the West Palm Beach theater company.
“Hap reviewed our very first production (Greetings!, in December 2000) at Palm Beach Dramaworks and has been a loyal advocate since. From the beginning he gave us the encouragement to continue on our journey,” Beryl said.
“For the past 25 years, he missed seeing only a few productions and rarely missed an opening night in all that time. Naturally, we did not always see eye to eye, but he was the first critic to take note of an emerging theater company and give them equal attention as the more established companies,” she said. “He was responsible for inspiring the community to come see what we offered and also helped build audiences for many others. To say he will be missed is a great understatement.”
Matt Stabile, producing artistic director at Theatre Lab, said Erstein was a staunch advocate of local theater.
“Theatre Lab joins our friends and colleagues in celebrating the life and work of Hap Erstein and his innumerable contributions to our South Florida theatrical landscape. Hap cared deeply about the quality of live theater in our region and understood that honest and well-thought-out criticism benefited our local communities and ensured the top-notch work being done in our area would also be shared with a broader audience,” Stabile said.
“As a company exclusively dedicated to new work, we are deeply grateful for the time, care, and consideration he showed with countless feature articles and subsequent reviews of our productions. He and his work will be sorely missed,” he said.
In addition to his work as a theater critic, Erstein regularly supplied movie reviews for WJNO-1290 AM in West Palm Beach. He also was a passionate devotee of world travel, and he and his wife of 53 years, Elaine Oksner, regularly journeyed to countries around the globe. They were planning to visit Greece in August.
A memorial service is planned for August 17 at the clubhouse in Erstein’s Greenacres neighborhood. He is survived by his wife.
Playwright Michael McKeever, co-founder of Miami’s Zoetic Stage, knew Erstein for almost 30 years.
“I’m shocked and heartbroken to learn of the passing of Hap,” McKeever said. His first play in 1996, That Sound You Hear, which was produced at the New Theater in Miami, was reviewed by Erstein. His second play, The Garden of Hannah List, produced at Florida Stage in 1997, was also reviewed by Erstein for The Palm Beach Post.
“When he gave it a good review, I was so happy,” he says.
McKeever said there were three critic powerhouses of South Florida: Hap Erstein, Christine Dolen and Jack Zink, known as “The Trifecta.”
“They were all wonderful, smart and insightful, and advocates for local theater,” McKeever says.
Dolen, who wrote for The Miami Herald, died in February. Zink, who wrote for the Sun-Sentinel of Fort Lauderdale, died in 2008.
“With Hap’s passing, it’s truly the end of an era,” McKeever said. “They were amazing writers who watched the South Florida theater region grow up.”