From 1979 to 1983, Fishelson worked as a production assistant in the film and television industry in New York, while writing and directing the feature film City News with Zinman.[1][12] Shot on a small budget,[3][12]City News found success in 1983-4 by being selected for the Film Festivals of Atlanta, Edinburgh, Houston, Munich, Florence, Athens, Santa Fe, Seattle, Vancouver, Dallas, Göteborg and Antwerp[14] — winning "Best Dramatic Film" at Atlanta, "Best Low-Budget Feature" at Houston, and "Best Feature (Narrative)" at Athens.[15][28] After its tour of festivals, City News was exhibited in U.S. theaters by film distributor Cinecom Pictures,[13][29] and was nationally broadcast on the third season (1984) of the PBS television series American Playhouse.[12][30][31][32] By 1989, City News had been curated for the permanent collection of the Museum of Television & Radio, as well as listed in the American Film Institute's Catalog of Feature Films.[15][33]
Fishelson's 2003–4 season saw frequent transfers of his shows from MET's 140-seat, SoHo-based home, as described in Playbill:
With Golda's Balcony (which opened at the Helen Hayes Theatre on Broadway on Oct. 15), MET has two hits based on the lives of renowned historical figures. Its first offering this season, Hank Williams: Lost Highway, about the troubled country singer and composer, was hailed and quickly transferred following an extended run. It is currently playing the Little Shubert Off-Broadway. (In fact, the runaway success of MET's first two shows caused the nonprofit to postpone its third selection until the (2004–05) season.)[53]
Before transferring, Lost Highway earned positive reviews in the New York press[54] and multiple theatre award nominations, including two for Fishelson in the "Best Musical" and "Best Off-Broadway Musical" categories.[55][56]Rolling Stone critic and editor Anthony DeCurtis wrote "I was genuinely surprised, even stunned by [MET's version of] Hank Williams: Lost Highway.... a rare achievement in any musical theater that I've ever seen”;[57] while Jeremy McCarter of New York Magazine called Fishelson's production "electrifying", "the most successful jukebox musical I've seen," and "New York's most exciting new musical since Urinetown."[58][59][60]
Fishelson's three subsequent mountings of Golda's Balcony, the one-woman show about Israeli Prime Minister Golda Meir, earned nominations and awards in each of its manifestations, including Off-Broadway (a 4-month sold-out run at the MET SoHo space),[8][61] on Broadway (starring Tovah Feldshuh),[53][62] and the 9-month "National Tour" of the U.S. and Canada (starring Valerie Harper).[46][63] The Off-Broadway production earned a Drama League "Best Play" nomination for Fishelson (as producer);[18] the Broadway production earned a 2004 Tony Award nomination for "Best Actress" for Feldshuh,[16] and went on to become the longest-running one-woman show in Broadway history;[6] while the National Tour won Fishelson the 2006 "Best Play" Touring Broadway Award from the Broadway League (shared with playwright William Gibson).[10] After lead producing both the Broadway show and its tour, Fishelson was invited to become a Tony Award voter, a status he retains to the present day.[14] Critic John Simon, in his New York Magazine review of the Broadway version, wrote that "Golda's Balcony is the perfect merging of playwright, actress and character."[64]
Fishelson's final production in the MET space was Heather Raffo's 9 Parts of Desire, winner of the 2005 Lortel Award for "Best Solo Production" (shared by Fishelson and Raffo), and recipient of a 2005 Susan Smith Blackburn Prize for "Best English Language Play Written by a Woman".[9][19]9 Parts of Desire had a 9-month sold-out run from 2004–5,[65] and earned MET some of its more positive reviews – with John Lahr in The New Yorker calling it "an example of how art can remake the world," and Charles Isherwood in The New York Times calling it an "impassioned theatrical documentary about contemporary Iraqi women[,] marked by vivid, memorable details."[66][67] Following its run at MET, Fishelson arranged for further productions of 9 Parts at five of the larger LORT theaters in the U.S.[68][69] — including Berkeley Rep, Seattle Rep, Los Angeles' Geffen Playhouse, Philadelphia's Wilma Theater, and D.C.'s Arena Stage — through the fall of 2006.[70][71][72][73][74]
In 2019-20, Fishelson and MET produced and distributed the feature film Golda's Balcony (2019 film) which went on to win 21 “Audience Favorite” awards at 75 international film festivals in 2019-20.[5][20][6]
Hank Williams: Lost Highway (2002-3, Off-Broadway play)
Golda's Balcony (2003, Off-Broadway play)
Golda's Balcony (2003-5, Broadway play)
9 Parts of Desire (2004-5, Off-Broadway play)
Golda's Balcony (2005-6, National Broadway tour of U.S. and Canada)
9 Parts of Desire (2005-6, National Regional tour of LORT Theaters in the U.S.)
Directing
City News (1983, feature film/PBS, w/Zoe Zinman, YouTube)
The Vanek Plays (Havel) (1992, Off-Broadway play)
The Idiot (1992, Off-Broadway play)
The Brothers Karamazov (1994, Off-Broadway play)
The Gospel Truth (1995, television episode of "City Arts", WNET-TV ch. 13)[77][78]
The Brothers Karamazov (1994, NPR radio play)
The Idiot (1997, NPR radio play)
The Idiot (2001, Off-Broadway play)
Writing
City News (1983, screenplay (with Zoe Zinman), feature film/PBS, YouTube)
The Idiot (drama, published 1995)
The Brothers Karamazov (drama, published 1995)
The Castle (drama, with Aaron Leichter, published 2002)
The Golem (drama, published 2002)
Awards and nominations
As a writer and producer for theatre, Fishelson individually has earned 11 nominations (winning 6),[21] while his producing of the feature films City News and Golda's Balcony (2019 film) have respectively won 3 Festival awards and 21 “Best Feature” awards at various international film festivals in 2019-20.[5][6]
2006 Broadway Touring Award for Best Play, Golda's Balcony National Tour (Producer)
2005 Lucille Lortel Award for Best Solo Production, 9 Parts of Desire (Producer)
2004 Time Out Best in Theater: 9 Parts of Desire (Producer)
2003 Lucille Lortel Nomination for Best Musical, Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Producer)
2003 Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Best Off-Broadway Musical, Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Producer)
2003 Time Out Best in Theater: Hank Williams: Lost Highway (Producer)
2003 Time Out Best in Theater: Golda's Balcony (Producer)
2003 Drama League Nomination for Best Play, Golda's Balcony (Producer)
2002 Drama League Nomination for Best Play, The Castle (Writer and producer)
2002 Outer Critics Circle Nomination for Best Off-Broadway Play, The Castle (Writer and producer)
2002 Time Out Best in Theater: Death in Venice (Producer)
1983 Atlanta Film Festival: Winner, "Best Dramatic Film", City News (Co-writer, producer, director)
1983 Houston Int'l Film Festival: Winner, "Best Low-Budget Feature", City News (Co-writer, producer, director)
1983 Athens (OH) Film Festival: Winner, "Best Feature (Narrative)", City News (Co-writer, producer, director)
Personal life
Fishelson is a member of The Dramatists Guild, a Tony voter, and an occasional lecturer in theatre producing, nonprofit management, and playwriting.[77] His future, stated projects for the theatre include an adaptation of a "well-known French New Wave film for the stage", and "an original play about the Holocaust called The Hamlet Syndrome". He lives in Manhattan and has two adult children.