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UI theater professor wins Tony Award for directing
Melissa
Mitchell, News Editor
(217) 333-5491; melissa@illinois.edu
6/5/01
|
CHAMPAIGN, Ill.
— University of Illinois theater professor Daniel Sullivan received
the Tony Award for best director of a play for his work on David Auburn’s
"Proof." The award was announced at ceremonies on June 3 at
New York City’s Radio City Music Hall.
The American Theater Wing's 55th annual Tony Awards also honored "Proof"
as the best play and Mary-Louise Parker, its star, for the best performance
by a leading actress in a play.
Sullivan, who holds a Swanlund Chair – the highest endowed title
that can be awarded to a UI professor – has been nominated for
three other Tonys for his theater direction: "The Heidi Chronicles"
(1989), "Conversations with my Father" (1992) and "The
Sisters Rosenzweig" (1993). In 1990, as artistic director of the
Seattle Repertory Theater, Sullivan accepted the Regional Tony Award
for Seattle Repertory Theater’s distinguished record of developing
new plays.
Another UI theater professor, Robin McFarquhar, was fight choreographer
for Dale Wasserman’s "One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest,"
which received the Tony Award for best play revival.
Champaign-Urbana audiences will be able to view Sullivan’s work
July 17 when he directs a benefit performance of A.R. Gurney’s
"Love Letters" for the theater department’s "SummerFest
2001" at the UI’s Krannert Center for the Performing Arts.
The production will feature Kathleen F. Conlin, dean of the College
of Fine and Applied Arts, and Henson Keys, chair of the UI acting program.
This summer, Sullivan will direct a play that was developed in a workshop
at the UI last fall.
Charlayne Woodard’s "In Real Life" opens July 29 at the
Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles, where Sullivan will collaborate with
UI professors James Berton Harris (costumes) and Kathy Perkins (lighting).
