John Waldhorn Gassner (January 30, 1903 – April 2, 1967) was a Hungarian-born American theatre historian, critic, educator, and anthologist.
In 1956, Gassner accepted the prestigious post of Sterling Professor of Playwriting and Dramatic Literature at the Yale Drama School and remained there until his death.
[2] Gassner discovered and mentored writers who later attained fame in America and abroad, including Arthur Miller and Tennessee Williams.
[5] In an obituary, the performance theorist, director, and TDR editor Richard Schechner wrote that Gassner was "a warm man" who had "a rare combination of humanity and intelligence.
His work as an editor and anthologist was ambitious enough to prompt Milton Esterow to remark in a review that "hardly a day seems to pass without the publication of a book by John Gassner.