Carra (pronounced cuh-RAH) was born in Salina,
Italy. His parents immigrated to
Boston, Massachusetts, in 1912, where they started a grocery business. One of his high school teachers arranged for a full scholarship to
Harvard University, where he studied biology. He was active in the Harvard drama club and graduated in 1931. He attended medical school in
Rome for one year, but his passion for theater caused him to return to the States and to enroll in
Yale University's drama school, from which he graduated in 1935. At Yale he was a research assistant for Professor Alexander Dean on the first edition of his classic textbook
The Fundamentals of Play Directing. Carra assumed the role of co-author after Dean's death in 1939. More than sixty years later, the book is in its fifth edition and still is widely used in colleges. Carra taught directing at
Northwestern University and the
University of Texas at Austin before joining the drama school of Carnegie Tech, now Carnegie Mellon University, in 1947. He eventually became the department chairman. His directing students at CMU included
William Ball, founder of
American Conservatory Theater;
Steven Bochco, creator of the hit TV series
Hill Street Blues,
LA Law, and
NYPD Blue;
Mel Shapiro, who co-wrote and directed the musical adaptation of
Two Gentlemen of Verona on Broadway; and
John-Michael Tebelak, creator of the popular musical
Godspell. He died at age 97 on March 30, 2006, at his
Squirrel Hill home in Pittsburgh and is buried at
Homewood Cemetery. ==References==