Melvin Irwin Gordon, who was a member of the University of California, Berkeley, faculty from 1990 until his retirement in 2017, died on March 22, 2018, at his home in Richmond, California, as a result of complications due to renal failure. He was a versatile, maverick historian of drama and performance, whose many publications and lively teaching covered a remarkable range of world theater and performance forms.
Mel (as he was always known to his family, colleagues, friends, and students) was born on February 18, 1947, in Detroit, Michigan. He said that his leftwing parents ("half-...