Pam MacKinnon (born January 8, 1968 in Chicago, Illinois) is an American theatre director. She has directed for the stage Off-Broadway, on Broadway and in regional theatre. She won the Obie Award for Directing and received a Tony Award nomination, Best Director, for her work on Clybourne Park. In 2013 she received the Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play for a revival of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?.
Biography
Early life
MacKinnon is a native of Chicago and was raised in suburban Buffalo, New York.[1] She majored in economics and political science at the University of Toronto and enrolled in a political science Ph.D. program at the University of California, San Diego,[2]but left[2]to work with Des McAnuff[1] and Anne Bogart in San Diego.[2] She studied at the Lincoln Center Directors' Lab and the Drama League.[3]
Career
MacKinnon has directed many plays by Edward Albee, including the premiere of his Peter and Jerry at the Second Stage Theatre (2007)[4] (and also at Hartford Stage), and his Occupant (2008) by the Signature Theatre Company.[5] Additional Albee works that she has directed include: A Delicate Balance (2009) at the Arena Stage, Washington, DC,[6] and The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia? at the Alley Theatre, Houston, Texas, in 2003.[7] The Houston Chronicle reviewer wrote of MacKinnon's direction of The Goat: "Director Pam MacKinnon negotiates the shifting tone as expertly as Albee has written it."[8] She directed Albee's The Play About the Baby (2002) by the Philadelphia Theatre Company, Philadelphia[9] and at the Goodman Theatre (2003).[10] The Philadelphia Inquirer reviewer wrote that MacKinnon "...displays an unerring understanding of the play's moods and rhythms."[9]
She directed Clybourne Park at the Off-Broadway Playwrights Horizons in 2010,[11] winning the 2010 Obie Award for Directing.[12] The play won the 2011 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She directed the Broadway production of Clybourne Park, receiving a nomination for the 2012 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Play.[13] In the Fall of 2011 she directed David Bar Katz's The Atmosphere of Memory, starring Ellen Burstyn and John Glover at The LAByrinth Theater Company. [14]
In regional theatre she directed Death of a Salesman at the Old Globe Theatre, San Diego, which ran from January 22, 2011 to February 27, 2011.[15] At the South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California, she directed Itamar Moses' Completeness (2011),[16]Gina Gionfriddo's Becky Shaw (2010),[17] and Richard Greenberg's Our Mother's Brief Affair (2009)[18]
MacKinnon directed three plays by Horton Foote under the umbrella title of Harrison, TX: Three Plays by Horton Foote for Primary Stages at 59E59 Theaters, New York City, with performances running from July-September 2012. [19]
MacKinnon directed a production of Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? at the Steppenwolf Theatre, Chicago with performances starting in December 2010.[20] She directed the production on Broadway at the Booth Theatre, which ran from September 2012 (previews) to March 3, 2013.[21] MacKinnon won the Tony Award, Best Direction of a Play.[22]
MacKinnon directed the 2014 Broadway revival of Edward Albee's A Delicate Balance starring Glenn Close, John Lithgow and Martha Plimpton. The show ran from October 2014 (previews) to February 22, 2015 at the John Golden Theatre.[23]
She is Chairwoman of the Executive Board of Clubbed Thumb, which "commissions, develops, and produces funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers."[24]
Awards and nominations
Source: Playbillvault[25]
- 2010, 2012 Clybourne Park - Obie Award (Winner), Lucille Lortel Award (nominee) and Tony Award (nominee)
- 2013 Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Tony Award (Winner) and Drama Desk Award (Winner); Outer Critics Circle (nominee)
References
- ^ a b Weinert-Kendt, Rob.Collaborating With the Cast and Playwright" The New York Times, May 10, 2012
- ^ a b c Kennedy, Mark."Director Pam MacKinnon Scales the Broadway Heights" boston.com, April 13, 2012
- ^ "Biography" clybournepark.com, accessed June 14, 2012
- ^ Brantley, Ben."Theater Review. Who’s Afraid of the Menace Within? Not Edward Albee" The New York Times, November 12, 2007
- ^ Brantley, Ben."Theater Review. Resurrecting an Artist’s Greatest Creation: Herself" The New York Times, June 6, 2008
- ^ Marks, Peter." 'A Delicate Balance' at Arena Stage" The Washington Post, February 16, 2009
- ^ "' The Goat or Who is Sylvia?' Listing, Alley Theatre" AlleyTheatre.org, accessed June 14, 2012
- ^ Staff. "Alley stages a remarkably human 'Goat'", The Houston Chronicle, January 24, 2003, p.1
- ^ a b Keating, Douglas J. (Inquirer Theatre Critic). "Disturbing comedy by Albee", The Philadelphia Inquirer, March 25, 2002, Section:MAGAZINE
- ^ Phillips, Michael."Albee's 'Baby' reborn with Goodman casting" Chicago Tribune, October 3, 2003
- ^ Brantley, Ben."Theater Review, Good Defenses Make Good Neighbors"The New York Times, February 22, 2012
- ^ Cox, Gordon."Annie Baker wins big at Obie Awards" Variety, May 17, 2010
- ^ Jones, Kenneth. "'Once', 'Clybourne Park', 'Porgy and Bess', Audra McDonald, 'Salesman' Win Tony Awards" Playbill.com, June 10, 2012
- ^ [1]
- ^ "'Death of a Salesman' Listing" OldGlobe.org, accessed June 14, 2012
- ^ "Program, 'Completeness', South Coast Repertory" South Coast Repertory, accessed June 14, 2012
- ^ "Program, 'Becky Shaw', South Coast Repertory" South Coast Repertory, accessed June 14, 2012
- ^ "Program, 'Our Mother's Brief Affair', South Coast Repertory" South Coast Repertory, accessed June 14, 2012
- ^ Bacalzo, Dan."Pam MacKinnon to Direct Trio of Horton Foote Plays as Part of Primary Stages' 2012-2013 Season" theatermania.com, February 3, 2012
- ^ Isherwood, Charles."Theater Review. Watch It, Martha: This George Is a Stealth Bomb" The New York Times, December 12, 2010
- ^ Jones, Kenneth. "Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf? Ends Broadway Run March 3" playbill.com, March 3, 2013
- ^ Gans, Andrew. Nominations Announced for 67th Annual Tony Awards; Kinky Boots Earns 13 Nominations" playbill.com, April 30, 2013
- ^ "The Verdict: The Critics Review 'A Delicate Balance' on Broadway Featuring Glenn Close, John Lithgow and Martha Plimpton" playbill.com, November 20, 2014
- ^ "Executive Board, Clubbed Thumb" clubbedthumb.org, accessed June 14, 2012
- ^ "MacKinnon Listing" playbillvault.com, accessed arch 21, 2015