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Guthrie TheaterIntroduction The Guthrie Theater is a venue for staging plays in Minneapolis, Minnesota. It was the result of Tyrone Guthrie desire for a new kind of theater that would provide an atmosphere that would encourage the production of great works of literature and cultivate actors talents away from the more commercial environment of Broadway where increasing production costs demanded profitability over artistic content. The Guthrie Theater first opened its door on May 7,1963 with a production of Hamlet with George Grizzard playing the lead and directed by Tyrone Guthrie himself. Paired with an innovative philosphy that included a resident acting company with high professional standards was a unique design concept in the stage itself. 'Guthrie' selected architect Ralph Rapson to design the new theater. Rapson was a leading contributor to architecture's modern movement on the East Coast during the late 1940s and throughout the 1950s and served as head of the University of Minnesota School of Architecture in the late 50s. Rapson had also worked on some preliminary sketchs of the Walker Art Center, who donated some land for the Guthries construction. Guthrie and Rapson selected a modified theater in the round design that featured a thrust stage projecting from a back wall with seating surrounding nearly two thirds of it. History Tyrone Guthrie (1900-1971) was an English stage director, playwright, and writer. Guthrie was the director of the Scottish National Players during the 1920s and directed the Festival Theatre in Cambridge, England. During the mid-fifties Guthrie was the artistic director and co-founder of the Shakespearean Festival in Stratford, Ontario. It was there that he first worked on the thrust stage that he included in the Guthrie Theater. In 1959 Guthrie published a small invitation in the drama page of the New York Times soliciting communities interest and involvement in a resident theater. Out of the seven cities that responded, the Twin Cities showed not only interest but also eagerness for the project. Frank Whiting, the director of the University of Minnesota Theater introduced Guthrie to the arts community in the Twin Cities and helped gather support that persuaded Guthrie to locate his theater in Minneapolis. With the help of the newly founded Tyrone Guthrie Theater Foundation a fundraising effort raised over $2 million. The new theater was completed in 1963 in time for the May 7th opening of Hamlet. During its first season the Guthrie theater featured well known stage actors Jessica Tandy and Zoe Caldwell and featured a group of younger actors including Joan van Ark. Tyrone Guthrie served as Artistic Director until 1966 and contiuned to direct at the theater he founded until 2 years before he died in 1971. In 1966 Douglas Campbell was named Artistic Director, Campbell was an actor and director who considered Guthrie as a mentor. Throughout the 1960s the Guthrie found critical acclaim in its productions of Henry V, St. Joan, Caucasian Chalk Circle, Three Sisters and especially The House of Atreus. In 1968 the production of The House of Atreus was taken on the road in a national tour that was a first for a resident theater. Also starting in 1968 the Guthrie started producing a series of plays done on smaller stages in the Twin City area, Crawford-Livingston Theater and The Other Place. In 1971 Michael Langham became Artistic Director and produced highly successful classics including Oedipus the King, Love's Labor's Lost, She Stoops to Conquer, and A Streetcar Named Desire. Langham was a friend and colleague of Guthrie and continued the tradition of using a repertoire of actors. After Langham left in 1977, the Guthrie crossed a milestone of sorts when for the first time it selected an artistic director that was not a respected collaborator or friend of the Tyrone Guthrie. That year Alvin Epstein was selected as Artistic Director and was the first American to fill that role. In 1980 Liviu Ciulei replaced Epstein. Ciulei was the former Artistic Director of the Bulandra Theatre in Romania and had a profound influence on the Guthrie theater. He challenged audiences with his bold theatrical interpretations and his highly contemporary and international style. Ciuleis intense interest in theater didnt stop at the productions themselves, he was a world-class world-class designer and architect and one of the first things he did was to redesign the theater itself. His changes allowed more structural flexibility in the stage to allow each production a unique physical presentation. While Ciulei was not able to attain all the goals he had envisioned, he was able to maintain and advance the Guthries national and international reputation as a first-rate example of American Theater and drew critical success with productions of classics such as Peer Gynt, The Marriage of Figaro, A Midsummer Night's Dream, The Seagull, and Tartuffe. He also was able to reestablish the Guthries commitment to acting ensembles by gathering together a rotating repertory in his last season as Artistic Director in 1985. That year the Guthrie turned to Garland Wright who had spent some time as Liviu Ciuleis Associate Artistic Director in the early 1980s as Ciulei's replacement. Wright had shared a vision with Ciulei that included the desire to have a second, smaller stage that could act as a lab to enable the exploration of new work and performance techniques. Born out of this vision was the Guthrie Laboratory located in the Minneapolis Warehouse District. Wright also shared a desire to keep the concept of a resident acting company alive and used his ensembles to great effect. He as able to combine critical and popular success with a series of productions that helped reestablish a large, enthusiastic and loyal audience base. Productions from this period include The Misanthrope,Richard III, The Screens, and a trilogy of Richard II, Henry IV (Parts I and II) and Henry V, Medea and As You Like It. Wright also created a series of outreach programs designed to garner interest in theater among young people and involving high school and colleague instructors to help instill a theater-going habit. During this time the Guthrie also had a $3.5 million facelift that maintained Tyrone Guthries desire for an intimate theater going experience. Garland Wright announced his resignation in 1994 and after an international search for his successor, Irish director Joe Dowling was chosen as the Guthrie's seventh Artistic Director. Dowling had gained a international reputation with his work at Irelands National Theater, the Abby Theater including becoming the Abbys youngest Artistic Director in its long history. Dowling continued the Guthries commitment to Repertory Theater and presided over a return to national touring. Along with an increase in the number of the theaters subscribers to a new high of 32,000, his production of Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream is the Guthrie's most attended play ever. Architecture and Design Along with the Guthries groundbreaking production philosophy, the theater itself gained a lot of attention by the unique style and. The Guthries design arose out of architect Ralph Rapsons work with the Walker Art Center who had asked him to work on some ideas for a small auditourm the Walker had in mind near their museum. The result was a theater with a thrust stage that put more demands upon performers on the stage, and for technical staff. The theater seated 1,441 people when it first opened its doors in 1963 and featured an irregularly shaped stage that had 7 sides and took up 1120 square feet. From the angles, seating radiates outward and upward, balconies hung over the space just under ceiling-hung acoustical panels that carried the asymmetrical theme all the way to the top of the theater. The uniqueness of the concept was carried right though to the use of a minimum of scenic props intended for suggestion rather then literal presentation of the physical production. In 1980 Artistic Director Liviu Ciulei redesigned the stage. The stage itself was modified so that its size, shape and height was adjustable, and he opened up the back wall to create more depth. Future The Guthrie is in the middle of construction of its replacement theater along the Mississippi river in downtown Minneapolis, its design is the work of architect Jean Nouvel .It is a 255,000 square-foot facility that replicates the Theater's signature thrust stage and will seat 1,100 theater goers. In 2002 the National Trust for Historic Preservation put the Guthrie on its list of the most endangered historic properties in the United States in response to plans announced by the Walker Art Center to expand on the land occupied by the theater. The status of the existing theater is still up in the air and while the Walker Art Center owns the building and the land, many believe that the fate of the theater will be decided in the courts. A demolition permit that was issued for the theater has expired. References External link * Guthrie Theater
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