Pam MacKinnon(director)
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Pam MacKinnon (born January 9, 1968) is an American theatre director. She has directed for the stage
Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
, on Broadway and in regional theatre. She won the
Obie The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
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?'' She was named artistic director of
American Conservatory Theater The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school. History The Ameri ...
in San Francisco, California on January 23, 2018.


Biography


Early life

MacKinnon is a native of Chicago and was raised in suburban Buffalo, New York.Weinert-Kendt, Ro
Collaborating With the Cast and Playwright"
''The New York Times'', May 10, 2012
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,Kennedy, Mar
"Director Pam MacKinnon Scales the Broadway Heights"
boston.com, April 13, 2012
but left to work with Des McAnuff and Anne Bogart in San Diego. She studied at the Lincoln Center Directors' Lab and the Drama League.


Career

MacKinnon has directed many plays by
Edward Albee Edward Franklin Albee III ( ; March 12, 1928 – September 16, 2016) was an American playwright known for works such as ''The Zoo Story'' (1958), '' The Sandbox'' (1959), ''Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' (1962), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1966) ...
, including the premiere of his '' Peter and Jerry'' at the Second Stage Theatre (2007) (and also at Hartford Stage), and his ''Occupant'' (2008) by the
Signature Theatre Company Signature Theatre Company is an American theatre based in Manhattan, New York. It was founded in 1991 by James Houghton and is now led by Artistic Director Paige Evans. Signature is known for their season-long focus on one artist's work. It has be ...
. Additional Albee works that she has directed include: '' A Delicate Balance'' (2009) at the Arena Stage, Washington, DC, and '' The Goat, or Who Is Sylvia?'' at the Alley Theatre, Houston, Texas, in 2003. ''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." She directed Albee's ''The Play About the Baby'' (2002) by the Philadelphia Theatre Company, PhiladelphiaKeating, Douglas J. (Inquirer Theatre Critic). "Disturbing comedy by Albee", ''The Philadelphia Inquirer'', March 25, 2002, Section:MAGAZINE and at the Goodman Theatre (2003). The ''Philadelphia Inquirer'' reviewer wrote that MacKinnon "...displays an unerring understanding of the play's moods and rhythms." She directed '' Clybourne Park'' at the
Off-Broadway An off-Broadway theatre is any professional theatre venue in New York City with a seating capacity between 100 and 499, inclusive. These theatres are smaller than Broadway theatres, but larger than off-off-Broadway theatres, which seat fewer tha ...
Playwrights Horizons in 2010, winning the 2010
Obie The Obie Awards or Off-Broadway Theater Awards are annual awards originally given by ''The Village Voice'' newspaper to theatre artists and groups in New York City. In September 2014, the awards were jointly presented and administered with the A ...
Award for Directing. The play won the 2011
Pulitzer Prize The Pulitzer Prize () is an award for achievements in newspaper, magazine, online journalism, literature, and musical composition within the United States. It was established in 1917 by provisions in the will of Joseph Pulitzer, who had made h ...
for Drama. She directed the Broadway production of ''Clybourne Park'', receiving a nomination for the 2012 Tony Award, Best Direction of a Play. In the Fall of 2011 she directed
David Bar Katz David (; , "beloved one") (traditional spelling), , ''Dāwūd''; grc-koi, Δαυΐδ, Dauíd; la, Davidus, David; gez , ዳዊት, ''Dawit''; xcl, Դաւիթ, ''Dawitʿ''; cu, Давíдъ, ''Davidŭ''; possibly meaning "beloved one". w ...
's The Atmosphere of Memory, starring Ellen Burstyn and John Glover at The LAByrinth Theater Company. 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."'Death of a Salesman' Listing"
OldGlobe.org, accessed June 14, 2012
At the South Coast Repertory,
Costa Mesa, California Costa Mesa (; Spanish for "Table Coast") is a city in Orange County, California. Since its incorporation in 1953, the city has grown from a semi-rural farming community of 16,840 to an urban area including part of the South Coast Plaza–John Wa ...
, she directed
Itamar Moses Itamar Moses (born 1977) is an American playwright, author, and television writer. Biography Moses grew up in a American Jews, Jewish family in Berkeley, California, Berkeley, California, earned his bachelor's degree at Yale University, and his M ...
' ''Completeness'' (2011),
Gina Gionfriddo Gina Gionfriddo is an American playwright and television writer. Her play ''Becky Shaw'' was a 2009 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama, and her play ''Rapture, Blister, Burn'' was a 2013 finalist for the Pulitzer Prize for Drama. She has wr ...
's ''
Becky Shaw ''Becky Shaw'' is a play written by Gina Gionfriddo. The play premiered at the Humana Festival in 2008 and opened Off-Broadway in 2008. The play was a finalist for the 2009 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. Productions The play had its world premiere at ...
'' (2010), and Richard Greenberg's ''Our Mother's Brief Affair'' (2009) 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 59E59 Theaters is a curated rental venue located in New York City that consists of three theater spaces or stages. It shows both off-Broadway (in Theater A) and off-off-Broadway plays (in Theaters B and C). The complex is owned and operated by ...
, New York City, with performances running from July to September 2012. MacKinnon directed a production of '' Who's Afraid of Virginia Woolf?'' at the
Steppenwolf Theatre Steppenwolf Theatre Company is a Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Terry Kinney, Jeff Perry, and Gary Sinise in the Unitarian church on Half Day Road in Deerfield, Illinois and is now located in Chicago's Lincoln Park neighborhood on H ...
, Chicago with performances starting in December 2010. She directed the production on Broadway at the Booth Theatre, which ran from September 2012 (previews) to March 3, 2013. MacKinnon won the Tony Award, Best Direction of a Play. She directed the 2014 Broadway revival of Edward Albee's ''A Delicate Balance'' starring Glenn Close,
John Lithgow John Arthur Lithgow ( ; born , 1945) is an American actor. Lithgow studied at Harvard University and the London Academy of Music and Dramatic Art before becoming known for his work on the stage and screen. He has been the recipient of numerous ...
and
Martha Plimpton Martha Plimpton (born November 16, 1970) is an American actress. Her feature-film debut was in '' Rollover'' (1981); she subsequently rose to prominence in the Richard Donner film ''The Goonies'' (1985). She has also appeared in '' The Mosquito ...
. The show ran from October 2014 (previews) to February 22, 2015, at the John Golden Theatre. MacKinnon directed the world premiere of '' Amélie'', a new musical based on the 2001 film, which premiered at Berkeley Repertory Theatre in September 2015. The book is by Craig Lucas, Daniel Messé (of Hem) wrote the music and Messé and Nathan Tysen wrote the lyrics. The musical opened on Broadway in March 2017 in previews, and closed on May 21, 2017. Subsequently, she directed the Broadway production of the new play ''The Parisian Woman'' by
Beau Willimon Pack Beauregard Willimon (born October 26, 1977) is an American playwright and screenwriter. He helped develop the American version of the series ''House of Cards'' and served as showrunner for the first four seasons. In 2018, Willimon created th ...
, starring Uma Thurman,
Josh Lucas Joshua Lucas Easy Dent Maurer (born June 20, 1971) is an American actor. He is best known for his roles in various films, including '' American Psycho'' (2000), '' You Can Count on Me'' (2000), '' The Deep End'' (2001), '' A Beautiful Mind'' (20 ...
, Blair Brown and Phillipa Soo. The play opened November 30, 2017 and closed on March 11, 2018. She is chairwoman of the executive board of
Clubbed Thumb Clubbed Thumb is a downtown theater company in New York City that commissions, develops, and produces "funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers." Since its founding in 1996, the company has earned five OBIES (including t ...
, which "commissions, develops, and produces funny, strange, and provocative new plays by living American writers." She became the artistic director of the
American Conservatory Theater The American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.) is a nonprofit theater company in San Francisco, California, United States, that offers both classical and contemporary theater productions. It also has an attached acting school. History The Ameri ...
(San Francisco) effective July 2018. Her first work as director at ACT was ''
Seascape A seascape is a photograph, painting, or other work of art which depicts the sea, in other words an example of marine art. The word originated as a formation from landscape, which was first used of images of land in art. By a similar devel ...
'' in January 2019. The reviewer for ''The San Francisco Examiner'' wrote: "...new artistic director Pam MacKinnon is to Edward Albee, and her affinity for (and previous professional relationship with) the late American playwright is evident in his Pulitzer Prize winner 'Seascape,' her first directorial venture in her new post... In the hands of MacKinnon and the cast, it's all hilarious and often poignant."


Awards and nominations

Source: Playbillvault"MacKinnon Listing"
playbillvault.com, accessed March 21, 2015
*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 The Drama Desk Award is an annual prize recognizing excellence in New York theatre. First bestowed in 1955 as the Vernon Rice Award, the prize initially honored Off-Broadway productions, as well as Off-off-Broadway, and those in the vicinity. Fo ...
(Winner); Outer Critics Circle (nominee)


References


External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Mackinnon, Pam 1968 births American theatre directors Living people Place of birth missing (living people) Tony Award winners Women theatre directors