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John Douglas Thompson in the LWT production of 'Satchmo at the Waldorf[/caption]
This Sunday, June 11, marks the biggest night of the year in American theatre: the Tony Awards! We all like to make predictions of who the winners will be and sit anxiously on the edge of the couch crossing our fingers that our favorites take home the prizes. This year we thought it would be fun to show you some of our list of favorites a.k.a the LWT alums on this year's nominee list. Check them out below and join us in cheering them on Sunday!
Jefferson Mays - Best Performance by an Actor in a Leading Role in a Play, Oslo
Jefferson Mays has appeared 3 times on the LWT stage: in
Misalliance in the 1993/94 season,
The Importance of Being Earnest in the 1998/99 season, and in 2000/01's
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern are Dead directed by Darko
Tresnjak, who he would later go on to Tony Award success with in 2014 for his starring role in the Tresnjak directed A Gentleman's Guide to Love and Murder.
Nathan Lane - Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, The Front Page
Nathan Lane is an LWT alum from wayback having performed in the American premiere of
The Common Pursuit in our 1984/85 season.
John Douglas Thompson - Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role in a Play, August Wilson's Jitney
John Douglas Thompson starred in the wildly popular LWT production of
Satchmo at the Waldorf in the 2012/13 Season. He went on to win the Drama Desk Award and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Solo Performance in 2014 for his role in that production.
Michael Yeargan - Best Scenic Design of a Play, Oslo
A frequent designer at LWT, it would be hard to list all the times this already Tony Award winning scenic designer has designed for our stage. He was responsible for the sets for two 16/17 season world premiere shows:
Meteor Shower and
The Most Beautiful Room in New York, and also recently designed 2014's
Picasso at the Lapin Agile, 2013's
Curse of the Starving Class, 2010's
A Doll's House, and 2009's
The Glass Menagerie
David Gallo - Best Scenic Design of a Play, August Wilson's Jitney
Another Tony Award winning LWT alum, David Gallo designed the sets for
Golden Boy in our 2000/01 season,
In Walks Ed in our 1997/98 season, and the popular Al Pacino directed production of
Hughie in our 1995/96 season.
Mimi Lien - Best Scenic Design of a Musical, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
New Haven, CT native Mimi Lien designed the beautiful set for our 2012 production of
Macbeth 1969 and in 2015 we were so happy to see her become the first set designer to be named a MacArthur Fellow!
Santo Loquasto - Best Scenic Design of a Musical and Best Costume Design of a Musical, Hello, Dolly!
The only designer to be nominated in two different categories this year, Santo Loquasto also pulled double duty designing both the set and costumes for our 1993/94 world premiere production of Arthur Miller's
Broken Glass which later transferred to New York.
Jane Greenwood - Best Costume Design of a Play, Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes
A 20 time Tony Award nominee and winner of a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre, Jane Greenwood's designs have appeared in a number of LWT shows. In the 2016/17 season she designed the costumes for the world premiere of
Napoli, Brooklyn and also recently did costume design for
The Killing of Sister George in our 2012/13 season,
Uncle Vanya in 2006/07, and
The Front Page in 2005/06.
Susan Hilferty - Best Costume Design of a Play, Present Laughter
Costume Designer Susan Hilferty has designed for two recent Athol Fugard plays at LWT: the 2014 world premiere of
The Shadow of a Hummingbird and the 2010 east coast premiere of
The Train Driver.
Toni-Leslie James - Best Costume Design of a Play, August Wilson's Jitney
Toni-Leslie James designed costumes for our 2015 production of
brownsville song (b-side for tray), 2012's
Macbeth 1969, our 2011 U.S. premiere of
The Old Masters and 2008's
A Civil War Christmas and
The Bluest Eye.
David Zinn - Best Costume Design of a Play, A Doll’s House, Part 2
David Zinn has designed costumes for our 2001/02 production of
An Infinite Ache, the 2000/01 world premiere of
The Third Army, the 1999/00 world premiere of
The Good Person of New Haven, and our 1998/99 production of
Abstract Expression.
Linda Cho - Best Costume Design of a Musical, Anastasia
Tony Award winning costume designer Linda Cho has designed costumes for our 2015 world premiere production of
The Second Mrs. Wilson, 2013's
Clybourne Park, 2011's
Italian American Reconcilliation, 2006's
Durango, and 2001's
Rosencrantz & Guildenstern Are Dead.
Paloma Young - Best Costume Design of a Musical, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Paloma Young designed costumes for our 2016 world premiere production of
Lewiston.
Catherine Zuber - Best Costume Design of a Musical, War Paint
Catherine Zuber has designed costumes for 3 LWT productions: 2007's
Prayer for My Enemy, 1999/00's
Hedda Gabler, and 1998/99's
The Grey Zone.
Christopher Akerlind - Best Lighting Design of a Play, Indecent
Another frequent designer at LWT, Christopher Akerlind has designed lights most recently for our 2017 world premiere of
The Most Beautiful Room in New York, our 2015 world premiere of
The Second Mrs. Wilson, and the east coast premiere of
The Train Driver.
Jane Cox - Best Lighting Design of a Play, August Wilson’s Jitney
Jane Cox has been the lighting designer on 2 LWT productions: 2006's
Rocket to the Moon and the 2001/02 season productions of
Arms and the Man and
Hearts.
Donald Holder - Best Lighting Design of a Play, Oslo
Donald Holder most recently designed the lights for the 2016 world premiere of
Meteor Shower and the 2016 production of
My Paris at LWT. Other Long Wharf productions include 2014's
Picasso at the Lapin Agile, 1998/99's
The Importance of Being Earnest, and 1995-96 Al Pacino directed
Hughie.
Jennifer Tipton - Best Lighting Design of a Play, A Doll’s House, Part 2
Jennifer Tipton has been the lighting designer for a number of LWT shows including the 2017 hit production of
Endgame, 2009's
The Glass Menagerie, and 2004/05's M
oon for the Misbegotten.
Bartlett Sher - Best Direction of a Play, Oslo
Bartlett Sher has directed two shows on the LWT stage: 2007's
Prayer for My Enemy and the 2004/05 production of
Singing Forest
Rachel Chavkin - Best Direction of a Musical, Natasha, Pierre & The Great Comet of 1812
Director Rachel Chavkin is slated to direct the opening production of our 2017/18 season:
Small Mouth Sounds.
-Kimberly Shepherd