Anna D. Shapiro

Anna D. Shapiro
Born 1967 (age 48–49)
Evanston, Illinois, USA
Occupation Theatre director

Anna D. Shapiro (born 1967) is an American theatre director.

Biography

Early years

Shapiro was born in Evanston, Illinois, and went on to receive an undergraduate degree in directing from Columbia College Chicago. She then attended graduate school at the Yale School of Drama and was the recipient of a 1996 Princess Grace Award. Her Yale classmates from the early '90s jokingly called her "The truck-stop waitress who will one day run American theatre" because she "was the butchest person in the MFA program, which was also very associated with the idea of what theatre in Chicago was--psychological realism" she explains.[1]

Career

Shapiro has been on the faculty of Northwestern University as head of the Graduate Directing Program in Theatre since 2002.[2] She has been affiliated with Steppenwolf Theatre since 1995, serving as the original director of the New Plays Lab and later joining the artistic staff as Resident Director. Shapiro is an Artistic Associate and became a member of the ensemble in 2005.[3] She will become Artistic Director as of fall 2015.[4]

Her credits include the world premieres of Until We Find Each Other by Brooke Berman and The Pain and the Itch by Bruce Norris, the Chicago and Galway productions of Purple Heart, Three Days of Rain, Drawer Boy, I Never Sang for my Father, and Man from Nebraska. She also directed the world premieres of The Ordinary Yearning of Miriam Buddwing by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros at Steppenwolf in 2001[5] and Bruce Norris's The Infidel at both Steppenwolf and the Philadelphia Theatre Company.

Other credits include A Fair Country by Jon Robin Baitz at the Huntington Theatre Company, Boston, in 2000,[6] Iron by Rona Munro at the Off-Broadway Manhattan Theatre Club Stage II in 2003,[7] and Edwin Sanchez's Trafficking in Broken Hearts for the Atlantic Theatre Company.

After directing Tracy Letts' August: Osage County at Steppenwolf and winning the Jefferson Award for Best Director, she directed the play on Broadway, with all but two of the original cast, and won the 2008 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play,[8] as well as the Drama Desk Award[9] and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Play.[10] August:Osage County was named by Time Magazine as its Number 1 Theater Production for 2007.[11]

On Broadway, Shapiro directed Of Mice and Men (2014) and This Is Our Youth (2014).[12] She directed the Larry David play, Fish in the Dark on Broadway at the Cort Theatre, which opened in February 2015.[13]

References

  1. ↑ Kerry Reid (October 2004). "Anna Shapiro putting it together: her Steppenwolf Specialties are Actorly Insights and New-Play Savvy". American Theatre. Archived from the original on 28 August 2008. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  2. ↑ "Anna D. Shapiro" goodmantheatre.org, accessed September 20, 2014
  3. ↑ Jacobs, Leonard. "Steppenwolf Selects Anna Shapiro" backstage.com, March 17, 2005
  4. ↑ Hetrick, Adam. "Steppenwolf Names Tony Winner Anna D. Shapiro as New Artistic Director" playbill.com, October 2, 2014
  5. ↑ Simonson, Robert. "Miriam Buddwing Takes the Stage at Steppenwolf Studio, Jan. 11" playbill.com, January 11, 2001
  6. ↑ McBride, Murdoch. "Baitz's 'A Fair Country' Opens at Boston's Huntington, Oct. 27-Nov. 26" playbill.com, October 27, 2000
  7. ↑ Sommer, Elyse."A CurtainUp Review. 'Iron'" curtainup.com, October 24, 2003
  8. ↑ Jim True-Frost (2008-08-13). "Archive for the 'August: Osage County' Category". Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Retrieved 2008-08-23.
  9. ↑ Gans, Andrew.August and Passing Strange Win Top Honors at Drama Desk Awards", playbill.com, May 18, 2008
  10. ↑ Gans, Andrew."South Pacific Is Big Winner in Outer Critics Circle Awards", playbill.com, May 12, 2008
  11. ↑ Zoglin, Richard."Top 10 Theater Productions", time.com, February 23, 2009
  12. ↑ Hetrick, Adam. " 'This Is Our Youth', With Michael Cera, Kieran Culkin and Tavi Gevinson, Opens on Broadway Tonight" playbill.com, September 11, 2014
  13. ↑ Lloyd Webber, Imogen. "Rosie Perez & More Will Join Larry David in His Self-Penned Play 'Fish in the Dark' on Broadway" broadway.com, September 2, 2014

External links

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