[2] He was named Theatre Man of the Year by Elliott Norton of the Boston Record American, and Most Promising Director of 1971 by the New York Drama Desk.

Following the success of Godspell, he contributed funding to a number of productions at La MaMa, including Paul Foster's Silver Queen Saloon (1978);[3] William M. Hoffman's A Book of Etiquette (1978);[4] Steven Margoshes, Gerome Ragni, and James Rado's Jack Sound (1978);[5] Tadeusz Kantor's The Dead Class (1979);[6] Winston Tong in two pieces (1979);[7] Andrei Serban and Elizabeth Swados' Fragments of a Trilogy; Rosalyn Drexler's Vulgar Lives (1979);[8] Meredith Monk's Recent Ruins (1979);[9] and Ron Tavel's Nutrcracker in the Land of Nuts (1979/1980).

[citation needed] He was dramaturge for the Cathedral of St. John the Divine in New York City and staged liturgical drama there.

"[citation needed] In 1980, Tebelak was sued in New York State Supreme Court by his former live-in companion, Richard Hannum.

[11] Hannum was represented by famed divorce lawyer Marvin Mitchelson,[12] and was working with Norman Mailer on an adaptation of a play about Marilyn Monroe called Strawhead.

[14] In 1983, he directed Diversions: Or Proof that it is Impossible to Live, based on the life and work of Franz Kafka, written by Aubrey Simpson, and starring Michael Mayer, at La MaMa.