Huntington Theatre Company

The Calderwood Pavilion on Tremont Street.

The Huntington Theatre Company is Boston’s leading professional theatre and the recipient of the 2013 Regional Theatre Tony Award. Under the direction of Artistic Director Peter DuBois and Managing Director Michael Maso and in residence at Boston University.[1]

History

The Huntington was founded in 1982 by Boston University under President John Silber and Vice President Gerald Gross, and was separately incorporated as an independent non-profit in 1986. Its two prior artistic leaders were Peter Altman (1982 – 2000) and Nicholas Martin (2000 – 2008). Michael Maso has led the Huntington’s administrative and financial operations since 1982 as the Managing Director, producing more than 180 plays in partnership with three artistic directors and leading the Huntington’s ten-year drive to build the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, which opened in September 2004.[2]

In 2016, as a result of Boston University's decision to sell the BU Theatre on Huntington Avenue, the Huntington Theatre Company and Boston University dissolved their relationship.[3] The new owners of the BU Theatre Complex, QMG Huntington LLC, have proposed the creation of a new condo tower, while also allowing the Huntington to lease the renovated theatre space for $1 per year for the next 99 years. Construction is projected to be completed in late 2020.[4]

The Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts

The Huntington Theatre Company built and operates the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, located at 527 Tremont Street in Boston's Historic South End, which provides facilities and audience services at subsidized rates to small and mid-sized theatre companies.It houses the 360 seat Virginia Wimberly Theatre, the Nancy and Edward Roberts Studio Theatre, Carol G. Deane Hall, and Hall A.[5]

The Huntington also operates BostonTheatreScene.com where tickets are sold for productions at the Boston University Theatre, the BCA Theatres on the Plaza, and Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA.[6]

Notable productions

The Huntington has transferred 16 productions to New York, including two in 2012: the Broadway premiere of Lydia R. Diamond’s Stick Fly and the Roundabout Theatre Company production of Stephen Karam’s Sons of the Prophet, named a 2012 Pulitzer Prize finalist. The Huntington champions new play development and the local theatre community through its operation of the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts, which the Huntington built in 2004.[1]

August Wilson had a unique relationship with the Huntington, as eight of his plays were produced here before they went on to New York (7 to Broadway, and one Off Broadway). The Huntington's special relationship with August Wilson and his work began in 1986 with a production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone, Wilson's third play. For 25 years, the Huntington served as an artistic home to Wilson, developing and premiering seven of the ten plays of his Century Cycle during his life and producing two after his death. In 2012, the Huntington completed the cycle with Ma Rainey's Black Bottom. [7]

In the 2010-2011 season, the Huntington featured "The Shirley, VT Plays" Festival, with three plays written by Annie Baker being put on at the same time in three different theatres; Circle Mirror Transformation (Huntington), Body Awareness (SpeakEasy), and Aliens (Company One).[8]

In 2011, The Huntington teamed up with Mary Zimmerman to produce a knockout production of Candide. Zimmerman returned in the 2013-2014 season to direct the world premiere adaptation of The Jungle Book in association with Chicago's Goodman Theatre.[9]

New work

The Huntington has produced more than 100 New England, American, or world premieres to date.

Huntington Playwriting Fellows (HPF)

Since 2003, the HPF program has invited writers to participate in two-year residencies, during which playwrights receive a modest honorarium, join in a biweekly writers’ collective with artistic staff, attend Huntington productions and events, and are eligible for readings and support through the Breaking Ground Festival and the Huntington's Summer Workshop Program.[10] The primary focus of the program is creating relationships with writers at all stages of their careers, from emerging talent to established professionals. The program provides a framework for an in-depth, two-year artistic conversation and a long-term professional relationship. Huntington productions of plays by Fellows include The Luck of the Irish by Kirsten Greenidge, Stick Fly by Lydia R. Diamond, The Atheist, Brendan, and The Second Girl by Ronan Noone, Psyched and “M” by Ryan Landry, and A Guide for the Homesick by Ken Urban.[11][12]

Breaking Ground Festival

The Breaking Ground Festival is a periodic festival of new work featuring public readings of plays that have been developed by Huntington Playwriting Fellows or other nationally known playwrights with whom the Huntington Theatre Company has developed a relationship. In 2018, the festival featured readings of The Last Book of Homer by Jose Rivera, We All Fall Down by Lila Rose Kaplan, and The Purists by Dan McCabe.[13]

Awards

Since its opening in 1982, the Huntington Theatre Company has been nominated for over 240 awards. The Huntington has won 3 Drama Desk Awards, 39 Elliot Norton Awards, 41 IRNE Awards, and 3 Tony Awards. The Huntington Theatre Company received the 2013 Tony Award for Best Regional Theatre.[14]

Education

The Huntington’s Education Department serves more than 33,000 students, teachers, and community organizations each year with student matinees, statewide Poetry Out Loud and the August Wilson Monologue Competition.[15][16]

References

  1. 1 2 "About Us | Huntington Theatre Company". Huntingtontheatre.org. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  2. ↑ "Michael Maso | Huntington Theatre Company". Huntingtontheatre.org. 2012-03-29. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  3. ↑ "After 33 Years, BU And Huntington Theatre Company Are Cutting Ties". www.wbur.org. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  4. ↑ "Huntington Ave. tower and theater plans are revealed - The Boston Globe". BostonGlobe.com. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  5. ↑ "Calderwood Pavilion at the BCA | Huntington Theatre Company". Web.archive.org. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  6. ↑ Venues | BostonTheatreScene.com website Archived 2009-11-24 at the Wayback Machine.
  7. ↑ "Huntington completes Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award winner August Wilson's Century Cycle | Huntington Theatre Company". Archive.is. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  8. ↑
  9. ↑ "The Jungle Book | Huntington Theatre Company". Web.archive.org. Retrieved 2018-04-10.
  10. ↑ "The Huntington Playwriting Fellows: Lisa Timmel, Local Playwrights, and Radical Hospitality". HowlRound. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  11. ↑ http://www.huntingtontheatre.org/DocumentsHTC/news/artistic/06272012SummerWorkshopRelease_final.pdf
  12. ↑ "Huntington's "A Guide for the Homesick" Artfully Mixes Global Politics, Personal Pain – Theater Mirror". www.theatermirror.net. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
  13. ↑ Desk, BWW News. "2018 BREAKING GROUND Festival To Run 2/9-11". Retrieved 10 April 2018.
  14. ↑ "Huntington Theatre Company wins Tony for regional theater". The Boston Globe. 27 April 2013. Retrieved 30 April 2013.
  15. ↑ "Education | Huntington Theatre Company". Huntingtontheatre.org. 2011-12-12. Retrieved 2016-10-22.
  16. ↑ "Mayor Walsh announces Huntington Theatre Company Partnership". Boston.gov. Retrieved 2018-02-10.
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