Stephan Balint

Stephan Balint (born Bálint István 11 July 1943 in Budapest, died 11 October 2007 in Budapest) was a writer, actor, theatre director, and playwright.

Balint was co-founder of New York's Squat Theatre where he wrote, acted, and directed L-Train to Eldorado and Full Moon Killer.

Istvan Balint was the son of poet and artist Endre Balint.

Balint was the founding member of a theater group called the Squat Theater, who performed in the living room of a house after being denied a public broadcast license by the communist regime of Hungary.

The group grew into a collective that became well-known to younger artists throughout Budapest for trying to invent a new type of avant-garde production.

The troupe finally settled in a theater in Chelsea, Manhattan where they became famous throughout the late 1970s and 1980s.

Among the plays Balint co-wrote, co-directed, and performed in were ''Pig!

Child!

Fire!, Andy Warhol's Last Love, and Mr. Dead & Mrs. Free''.

In 1976, Balint, along with a number of other artists in the collective, toured theater festivals throughout Europe with the troupe, before relocating to New York City in mid-1977, where he changed his name to Stephan.

He also acted in several films, including Hunter, directed by Robert Frank, written by himself; American Stories: Food, Family and Philosophy in 1989; and The Golden Boat in 1990.

Balint returned to Budapest in the early 1990s, continuing his work until the start of his long illness in 2002, dying in 2007 of pneumonia.

He was survived by his daughter Eszter Balint, his son Gaspar Balint who lives in Budapest, and his grandson August Balint DuClos, who lives in New York.