The Theater Hall of Fame Inc. has announced its 2017 inductees: actors Audra McDonald, Marin Mazzie, and Matthew Broderick; playwrights Arthur Kopit and Tina Howe; director Oskar Eustis; producer Daryl Roth; and, posthumously, theatre critic Ernie Schier.
The 47th Annual Theater Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony will be held November 13 at Broadway's Gershwin Theatre (currently the home of Wicked), whose lobby hosts the Hall of Fame. Five-time Tony winner Susan Stroman will be the Mistress of Ceremonies. The roster of celebrity presenters will be announced at a later date.
Founded in 1970 by James M. Nederlander, Earl Blackwell, and Gerard Oestricher, the Theater Hall of Fame annually salutes Lifetime Achievement in the American Theatre. Over 200 ballots are mailed each August to the members of the Theater Hall of Fame and the nation's theatre critics. To be nominated, the theatre professional must have a minimum of 25 years on Broadway and five major credits, or the regional theatre nominee must be a theatre pioneer in his or her region. Since 1971, 400 theatre leaders have been voted for induction.
Terry Hodge Taylor produces the annual event; attendance is by invitation only. For more information, visit TheaterHallOfFame.org.
Audra McDonald made Broadway history when she won the 2014 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (her sixth) for her performance in Lady Day at Emerson's Bar and Grill. She won her first Tony Award—Featured Actress in a Musical—in 1994 for Carousel, in which she played the role of Carrie Pipperidge. In 1996 she took home the Featured Actress in a Play Tony Award for her performance as Sharon in Master Class. She also received Featured Actress Tonys for Ragtime, in which she played Sarah, and A Raisin in the Sun, for the role of Ruth Younger. The 2012 Tony Award for The Gershwins' Porgy and Bess was her first Best Leading Actress Tony Award. With the 2014 win, she has Tony Awards in all four acting categories.
A three-time Tony Award nominee for her performances in Kiss Me, Kate, Ragtime, and Passion, Marin Mazzie's other theatrical credits include The King and I, Next to Normal, Enron, Into the Woods, Big River, The World Goes 'Round, the City Center Encores! production of Out of this World and Off Broadway's The Trojan Women: A Love Story, where she met husband Jason Danieley. Mazzie also starred in the London production of Kiss Me, Kate, where she earned an Olivier Award nomination for her work.
Matthew Broderick won Tony Awards for his performances in How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying and Brighton Beach Memoirs. He was also Tony-nominated for his work in The Producers; his additional Broadway credits include Sylvia, It's Only a Play, Nice Work If You Can Get It, The Philanthropist, The Odd Couple, Taller Than a Dwarf, Night Must Fall, and Biloxi Blues.
An Obie winner, Tony nominee, and two-time Pulitzer Prize finalist, Howe is best known for her plays Museum, The Art of Dining, Pride’s Crossing, Painting Churches, and Costal Disturbances, which introduced Tim Daly and Annette Bening to Broadway audiences.
Arthur Kopit is a three-time Tony nominee for the books to the musicals Nine and Wings, as well as the play Indians. His Broadway credits as a librettist or playwright also include High Society, End of the World, Ghosts, and Oh Dad, Poor Dad, Mamma's Hung You in the Closet and I'm Feelin’ so Sad.
Oskar Eustis has served as the artistic director of The Public Theater since 2005. He came to The Public from Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island, where he served as artistic director from 1994 to 2005. Eustis served as associate artistic director at Los Angeles’ Mark Taper Forum from 1989 to 1994; prior to that, he was with the Eureka Theatre Company in San Francisco, serving as resident director and dramaturg from 1981 to 1986 and artistic director from 1986 to 1989. At The Public, Eustis directed the New York premieres of Rinne Groff’s Compulsion and The Ruby Sunrise; and Larry Wright’s The Human Scale. At Trinity Rep, he directed the world premiere of Paula Vogel’s The Long Christmas Ride Home and Tony Kushner’s Homebody/Kabul, both recipients of the Elliot Norton Award for Outstanding Production.
Producer Daryl Roth is the president of Daryl Roth Productions. She has produced seven Pulitzer Prize-winning plays: Anna in the Tropics, August: Osage County (2008 Tony Award), Clybourne Park (2012 Tony Award), How I Learned to Drive, Proof (2001 Tony Award), Edward Albee’s Three Tall Women, and Wit. She is also the recipient of ten Tony Awards and London’s Olivier Award.
Philadelphia theatre critic Ernie Schier was the theatre critic for the now-defunct Philadelphia Bulletin and Director of the National Critics Institute at the Eugene O'Neill Theatre Center in Waterford, Connecticut. Mr. Schier died in his late seventies in January 1999. Read more about his career here.
The 2016 inductees included actors Glenn Close, Brian Stokes Mitchell, and Phylicia Rashad, costume designer Catherine Zuber, lyricist Sir Tim Rice, playwright Marsha Norman, librettist Joe Masteroff, and producer Paul Libin.
