Sep 10
Obituaries: Joseph Besecker
BAR Staff READ TIME: 1 MIN.
October 2, 1941 – September 2, 2025
Joseph (Joe) Besecker, a longtime Castro resident and celebrated playwright, died peacefully after a long illness at Coming Home Hospice in San Francisco. He was 83.
Joe was born in Stroudsburg, PA, and lived in NYC before settling in San Francisco. Joe was predeceased by his partner of 42 years, Bill Stanton (2015) and brother Robert (2022). He is survived by his sister Patricia, brother-in-law, nephews, dear friends, and his beloved cat, Maggie.
Joe wrote 25 plays, with productions in New York, Los Angeles, San Francisco, and Edinburgh, Scotland. "Tennessee in the Summer," inspired by Tennessee Williams and directed by Barbara Bain, ran nine months in Los Angeles and earned two Ovation Award nominations. “Bee-eye,” based on Edward Albee, received three Bay Area Critics Circle Award nominations and a Drama-Logue Award.
Other plays included “Mary in the Hydrangea Bush,” “The Way Light Strikes Filled Mason Jars” (Best of the Fringe, San Francisco 2002; Edinburgh 2007), “Crime and Variations," “Paper Dolls,” and “Visiting Bertha.”
He once reflected on his vision, “The real drama was the inner unconscious drama of the artist’s psyche ... about the need to forgive other people, and especially about the need for self-forgiveness.”
Donations may be made to your favorite LGBTQ+ or animal rescue nonprofit.
