Mr. Jiranek's professional theatre life began early, just after he graduated from New York University. Teaming up with his friend and colleague, Broadway producer David Weil, and with theater legend John Houseman, Mr. Jiranek served as the associate producer for the short-lived 1981 Broadway production of the William Alfred drama, Curse of an Aching Heart, starring Faye Dunaway. In 1982, he co-produced the New York premiere of the David Mamet play, Edmond, Off-Broadway at the Provincetown Theater. It won two Obie Awards, including one for Best Play.
In 1984, he and Weil founded a marketing firm, CTM Brochure Display, which specialized in brochures for theatrical shows, with Mr. Jiranek as president and Weil as CEO. In time, the company outgrew its niche in the theater business to become the second largest brochure distribution company in the nation.
The company is headquartered in Stamford, CT, with 13 offices in the U.S. and Canada. It operates brochure stands in hotel lobbies and transportation hubs, advertising Broadway shows, vacation spots and travel destinations.
Mr. Jiranek and Weil sold CTM Brochure Display in 2000, and had remained interested in the theatre.
In 1999, the pair, with Cricket Hooper Jiranek, Mr. Jiranek's wife and business partner, formed a production company, CTM Productions. That year, the group co-produced the Broadway blues revue, It Ain't Nothin' But the Blues that played first at the Vivian Beaumont at Lincoln Center and then at the Ambassador Theater. Later that year, the trio produced a Broadway revival of Fool Moon, a two-man show starring Bill Irwin and David Shiner, which won the Tony Award for Special Theatrical Event.
This past spring, Mr. Jiranek and company co-produced Bill Maher's biting and critically-praised one-man show (it was Tony-nommed for Special Theatrical Event), Victory Begins at Home, at the Virginia Theater. Mr. Jiranek was slated to direct a production of Lysistrata from his own translation for the Off Broadway Jean Cocteau Repertory, where he served as president of the board.
He had completed a draft of the script just days before his death. The production is scheduled to go forward at the Jean Cocteau Oct. 24-Feb. 5.
Mr. Jiranek was a member of the League of American Theatres and Producers.
Mr. Jiranek is predeceased by his father, prominent furniture designer Leo A. Jiranek of Old Greenwich, and by his half-brother Henry Heald. He is survived by his wife Cricket Hooper Jiranek and their two daughters, Harriet Carrington "Cat" Jiranek, age 7, and Sailor Jennings Jiranek, age 4, of Old Greenwich, his mother Elaine "Jen" Jiranek, of Old Greenwich, and an extended family that includes four half-brothers, Theodore "Teke" Hoffman, R. Todd Hoffman, Robert H. Jiranek, and James Heald Jiranek.
A memorial service will be held outdoors at Lucas Point Beach in Old Greenwich 2 PM Aug. 24. In lieu of flowers, donations should be made to the Rwanda Project. To make a contribution, visit http://www.rwandaproject.org.
