Steven Shaw was born in Brooklyn, New York, where he engaged in various activities that were typical of kids from Brooklyn, New York, during his formative years. Sports were a significant part of his pursuits, with girls becoming an increasingly important aspect of his life as he entered puberty.
At the age of seventeen, Shaw was invited to try out for the Detroit Tigers, a team that consistently found themselves in last place during the 1950s. However, he eventually decided that Show Business was the better choice for him.
In his early twenties, after a brief stint as an unemployed actor, Shaw took over the running of the New York Shakespeare Festival/Public Theater's prop department and successfully built it into the largest regional theater prop department of its time. He worked on the premieres of numerous contemporary plays, including "Hair," "Two Gents," "No Place To Be Somebody," "That Championship Season," and twenty-six of Shakespeare's works.
Shaw remained with the Festival for nine years, performing multiple tasks as it grew. He conceived and produced The Five O'Clock Theater and later turned to stage managing on Broadway shows, including "The Wiz," "Deathtrap," "Sly Fox," "Sunday in the Park with George," and "Death and the Maiden."
He has served on the Executive Board of The Stage Managers Association and the Advisory Board of the Broadway Show League, a show business league he was a part of for 36 years. In 2000, he was honored by being named to the All Century All-Star Team.
While stage managing, Shaw had the opportunity to observe the techniques of renowned directors such as Arthur Penn, Sir Peter Hall, James Lapine, and Mike Nichols, and study the craft of acclaimed actors like Robert Preston, Vanessa Redgrave, Glenn Close, Richard Dreyfuss, Gene Hackman, and George C. Scott.
It was during the run of "Sly Fox" that George C. Scott optioned a script of Shaw's, titled "Grimby," which went on to have a longer life in a series of options than it probably would have had as a film.
In the early 1980s, Shaw staged the Spanish-speaking productions of both "Deathtrap" and "Amadeus" in Mexico City, with Manolo Fabragas, at the 1,300-seat Teatro San Rafael. Both productions ran for over eight months.
Shaw has been living in Los Angeles since 1992 with his wife, producer Diana Kerew, and continues to play softball, despite her many objections.
Trivia Note: Shaw received his first tennis lesson from Butterfly McQueen, but it did not stick.
