CHAMPAIGN, Ill. University of Illinois theater professor Daniel Sullivan received the Tony Award for best director of a play for his work on David Auburns "Proof." The award was announced at ceremonies on June 3 at New York Citys 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 Theaters distinguished record of developing new plays.
Another UI theater professor, Robin McFarquhar, was fight choreographer for Dale Wassermans "One Flew Over the Cuckoos Nest," which received the Tony Award for best play revival.
Champaign-Urbana audiences will be able to view Sullivans work July 17 when he directs a benefit performance of A.R. Gurneys "Love Letters" for the theater departments "SummerFest 2001" at the UIs 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 Woodards "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).