Marshall W. Mason

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Marshall W. Mason
Born (1940-02-24) February 24, 1940 (age 84)
Amarillo, Texas
NationalityAmerican
OccupationDirector
SpouseDaniel Irvine (m. 2011)

Marshall W. Mason (born February 24, 1940) is an American

theater director, educator, and writer.[1] Mason founded the Circle Repertory Company in New York City and was artistic director of the company for 18 years (1969–1987).[2] He received an Obie Award for Sustained Achievement in 1983.[3] In 2016, he received the Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theater
.

From 1983 to 1986, Mason was president of the

labor union.[4]

Early life, education, and off-off-Broadway

Mason was born in Amarillo, Texas, on February 24, 1940. He graduated from Northwestern University with a bachelor's degree in theater in 1961. At the age of 19, while at Northwestern, he received his first award for directing a production of Tennessee Williams' Cat on a Hot Tin Roof.[5]

Upon graduating, he moved to

Judson Poets Theatre.[6]

Mason directed multiple productions at La MaMa during the 1960s. The first was Balm in Gilead (1965), which was also his first collaboration with playwright Lanford Wilson.[7] He then directed Wilson's The Sand Castle or There is a Tavern in the Town or Harry Can Dance[8] and The Girl on the BBC,[9] both at La MaMa in 1965. He directed a second production of The Sand Castle in 1967.[10] That same year, Mason directed a production of Donald Julian's A Coffee Ground Among the Tea Leaves at La MaMa.[11] In 1969, he directed a production of Julian's In Praise of Folly with set design by Wilson.[12]

Since their early collaboration at La MaMa, Mason has directed over sixty productions of Lanford Wilson's plays.

history of American theater. Among these productions are The Hot l Baltimore, for which Mason won his first Obie Award for Distinguished Direction in 1973; Fifth of July (1978); Talley's Folly (1979); Angels Fall (1983); Burn This (1987); and Redwood Curtain (1992).[13]

Off-Broadway productions

He made his off-Broadway debut in 1964 with a revival of Henrik Ibsen's Little Eyolf.[14] In the decades since, Mason has been awarded five Obie Awards for Outstanding Direction:[15]

He directed 42 productions Off-Broadway,[16] including Edward J. Moore's The Sea Horse (1974), Romulus Linney's Childe Byron (1981), Lanford Wilson's Talley & Son (1985), William Mastrosimone's Sunshine (1989), Larry Kramer's The Destiny of Me (1992), Lanford Wilson's Sympathetic Magic (1997) and Wilson's Book of Days (2002)[17].

Broadway productions

His

Passion (1983); William M. Hoffman's As Is (Drama Desk Award for Best Play, 1985);[21] Lanford Wilson's Burn This (1988); Chekhov's The Seagull (1992); Rupert Holmes' Solitary Confinement (1992); and Lanford Wilson's Redwood Curtain
(1992).

Regional theater productions, international productions, and television

He has worked widely in

Ahmanson Theater of the Los Angeles Music Center
.

Mason has directed three productions in London as well as Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the National Theatre of Japan in Tokyo.

On television, Mason has directed William Inge’s Picnic, Lanford Wilson’s The Mound Builders and Fifth of July, and Robert Patrick’s Kennedy's Children. He has received two CableACE Award nominations for his productions on Showtime.

Awards and recognition

On Broadway, Mason has been nominated for the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play five times.[22] Off-Broadway, he has received five Obie Awards for Outstanding Direction of a play and a sixth Obie Award for Sustained Achievement.[15][3] He is the recipient of the 1979 Theatre World Award[23] and the 1977 Margo Jones Award for his discovery and nurturing of new playwrights and actors in his work with the Circle Repertory Company.[24] In 1999, he was recognized with a Mr. Abbott Special Millennium Award as one of the most innovative and influential directors of the twentieth century.[25]

In 2014, he was elected to the

Theater Hall of Fame.[26] He received the 2015 Artistic Achievement Award from the New York Innovative Theater Foundation. In 2016, Mason received the Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.[27]

Teaching and writing

Mason is

Professor Emeritus of Theater at Arizona State University, where he taught for ten years.[18] In 2001, he was honored with ASU’s Creative Activity Award.[28]

He was the chief

Kindle e-book
in 2016.

He is a member of the

Kennedy Center.[30]

Personal life

He lives in Mazatlán, Mexico and in Manhattan.

On July 25, 2011, the first Monday after

marriage equality law, Mason married his partner of 37 years, theater artist Daniel Irvine.[31]

Additional directing credits

  • Home Free! (1965)
  • The Madness of Lady Bright (London, 1968)
  • The Gingham Dog (1968)
  • Three Sisters (1970)
  • A Streetcar Named Desire (1978)
  • Hamlet (with William Hurt) (1979)
  • Mary Stuart (1979)
  • Foxfire (1981)
  • Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? (Tokyo, 1985)
  • Summer and Smoke (1988)
  • Sleuth (National Tour) (1988)
  • A Poster of the Cosmos (1994)
  • The Moonshot Tape (1994)
  • Cakewalk (1996)
  • Robbers (1997)
  • King Lear (1998)
  • Long Day's Journey into Night (1998)
  • The Elephant Man (London, 1998)
  • Ghosts (2001)
  • Private Lives (2002)
  • Cat on a Hot Tin Roof (2005)
  • The Goat, or Who is Sylvia?
     (2006)

References

  1. ^ "Marquis Who's Who On Demand - Marshall W. Mason". Marquis Who's Who. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  2. ISBN 978-0899508368
  3. ^ a b "OBIE AWARDS PRESENTED". The New York Times. May 24, 1983. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  4. ^ "Our History | Stage Directors and Choreographers Society". sdcweb.org. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  5. ISBN 9780325009193
    .
  6. ^ Stephen Susoyev and George Birimisa, eds. "Return to the Caffe Cino: A Collection of Plays and Memoirs"
  7. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Balm in Gilead (1965)".
  8. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Sand Castle, The (1965)".
  9. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Girl on the BBC, The (1965)".
  10. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Sand Castle, The (1967)".
  11. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: Coffee Ground Among the Tea Leaves, The (1967)".
  12. ^ La MaMa Archives Digital Collections. "Production: In Praise of Folly (1969)".
  13. ISBN 978-0396082408
  14. ^ The New York Times, March 17, 1963.
  15. ^ a b "Lortel Archives: Marshall W. Mason". Lortel Archives. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  16. ^ "Marshall W. Mason at the Lortel Archives". Archived from the original on 2009-02-17. Retrieved 2009-04-06.
  17. ^ Bennetts, Leslie (October 11, 1987). "THEATER; Marshall Mason Explores A New Stage". The New York Times.
  18. ^ a b "Theatre legend Marshall W. Mason retiring from Arizona State University". ASU Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. March 11, 2004. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  19. ^ Kerr, Walter (February 21, 1980). "Stage: 'Talley's Folly' by Lanford Wilson" (PDF). The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  20. ^ Rich, Frank (October 18, 1982). "PLAY: 'ANGELS FALL,' LANDFORD WILSON'S APOCALYPSE". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  21. ^ Rich, Frank (March 11, 1985). "STAGE: 'AS IS,' ABOUT AIDS, OPENS". The New York Times. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  22. ^ The Tony Award: A Complete Listing, ed. by Isabelle Stevenson, Heinemann, 1994.
  23. ^ "Theatre World Award Recipients". Theatre World Awards. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  24. ^ "MARGO JONES AWARD RECIPIENTS". The Ohio State University. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  25. ^ "The Mr. Abbott Award". Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation. Archived from the original on January 10, 2012. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  26. ^ Gans, Andrew (September 30, 2014). "2014 Theater Hall of Fame Inductees Announced". Playbill. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  27. ^ "The 2016 Tony Awards: Winners". Tony Awards. Retrieved June 14, 2016.
  28. ^ Ryder, David (October 18, 2001). "Ibsen Revenant: Arizona Theatre Company conjures a fluid new translation of 'Ghosts.'". Tucson Weekly. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  29. ^ "New Times Sweeps Top Journalism Awards". Phoenix New Times. May 2, 1996. Retrieved August 22, 2018.
  30. ^ "THE COLLEGE OF FELLOWS OF THE AMERICAN THEATRE COLLEGE INDUCTEES 1965-2014". The College of Fellows of the American Theatre. Archived from the original on February 19, 2015. Retrieved October 15, 2014.
  31. ^ "Gay Couple Gets Surprise When Applying For Marriage License". CBS New York. 2011. Retrieved October 16, 2014.

External links

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