Anna Shapiro
Encyclopedia
Early years
Shapiro was born in Evanston, IllinoisEvanston, Illinois
Evanston is a suburban municipality in Cook County, Illinois 12 miles north of downtown Chicago, bordering Chicago to the south, Skokie to the west, and Wilmette to the north, with an estimated population of 74,360 as of 2003. It is one of the North Shore communities that adjoin Lake Michigan...
, and went on to receive an undergraduate degree in directing from Columbia College Chicago. She then attended graduate school at the Yale School of Drama
Yale School of Drama
The Yale School of Drama is a graduate professional school of Yale University providing training in every discipline of the theatre: acting, design , directing, dramaturgy and dramatic criticism, playwriting, stage management, sound design, technical design and production, and theater...
and was the recipient of a 1996 Princess Grace Award. Her Yale classmates from the early '90s jokingly called her "The truck-stop waitress who will one day run American theatre" because she "was the butchest person in the MFA program, which was also very associated with the idea of what theatre in Chicago was--psychological realism" she explains.
Career
Shapiro joined the faculty of Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern University
Northwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
as head of the Graduate Directing Program in Theatre
Theatre
Theatre is a collaborative form of fine art that uses live performers to present the experience of a real or imagined event before a live audience in a specific place. The performers may communicate this experience to the audience through combinations of gesture, speech, song, music or dance...
in the fall of 2002. She has been affiliated with Steppenwolf Theatre since 1995, serving as the original director of the New Plays Lab and later joining the artistic staff as Resident Director. Shapiro currently serves as an Artistic Associate and she became a member of the ensemble in 2007.
Her recent credits include the world premieres of Until We Find Each Other by Brooke Berman
Brooke Berman
Brooke Berman is an American playwright and author. Her play Hunting and Gathering, which premiered at Primary Stages, directed by Leigh Silverman, was named one of the Ten Best of 2008 by New York magazine...
and The Pain and the Itch by Bruce Norris
Bruce Norris (playwright)
Bruce Norris is an American actor and playwright associated with the Steppenwolf Theatre Company of Chicago. On April 18, 2011 Norris was awarded the Pulitzer Prize for Drama for his play Clybourne Park...
, the Chicago
Chicago
Chicago is the largest city in the US state of Illinois. With nearly 2.7 million residents, it is the most populous city in the Midwestern United States and the third most populous in the US, after New York City and Los Angeles...
and Galway productions of Purple Heart, Three Days of Rain
Three Days of Rain
Three Days of Rain is a play by Richard Greenberg that was commissioned and produced by South Coast Repertory in 1997. The title comes from a line from W. S. Merwin's poem, "For the Anniversary of My Death"...
, Drawer Boy, I Never Sang for my Father, and Man
Man
The term man is used for an adult human male . However, man is sometimes used to refer to humanity as a whole...
from Nebraska
Nebraska
Nebraska is a state on the Great Plains of the Midwestern United States. The state's capital is Lincoln and its largest city is Omaha, on the Missouri River....
. She also directed the world premieres of The Ordinary Yearning of Miriam Buddwing by Alexandra Gersten-Vassilaros at Steppenwolf and Bruce Norris
Bruce Norris
Bruce Arthur Norris was owner of the Detroit Red Wings from 1952 to 1982. He was the son of James E. Norris and half-brother of James D. Norris. Members of the Norris family owned the Red Wings for almost fifty years before selling the franchise to Mike Ilitch in 1982. Bruce and Marguerite Norris...
's The Infidel at both Steppenwolf and the Philadelphia Theatre Company
Philadelphia Theatre Company
The Philadelphia Theatre Company is a 501 non-profit theater company located in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. It was founded in 1974 as The Philadelphia Company by Robert Hedley and Jean Harrison. The company has produced over 100 world and Philadelphia premieres and has hosted dozens of nationally...
.
Other credits include Iron at Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club
Manhattan Theatre Club is a theater company located in New York City. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, Manhattan Theatre Club has grown since its founding in 1970 from an Off-Off Broadway showcase into one of the country’s most acclaimed...
, A Fair Country by Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz
Jon Robin Baitz is an American playwright, screenwriter, television producer and sometime actor.-Life and career:Baitz was born in Los Angeles, California, the son of Edward Baitz, an executive of the Carnation Company. Baitz was raised in Brazil and South Africa before the family returned to...
at the Huntington Theatre Company, and Edwin Sanchez
Edwin Sánchez
Edwin Sánchez is a Salvadoran footballer who currently plays for Isidro Metapán in the Primera División of El Salvador, and for the El Salvador national team.-El Salvador:...
's Trafficking in Broken Hearts for the Atlantic Theatre Company.
After directing Tracy Letts' August: Osage County
August: Osage County
August: Osage County is a darkly comedic play by Tracy Letts. It was the recipient of the 2008 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play premiered at the Steppenwolf Theatre in Chicago on 28 June 2007, and closed on 26 August 2007. Its Broadway debut was at the Imperial Theater on 4 December 2007 and...
at Steppenwolf and winning the Jefferson Award for Best Director, she took the play to Broadway with all but two of the original cast and won the Tony Award for Best Director of a Play, as well the Drama Desk and the Outer Critics Circle Award for Outstanding Director of a Play. August:Osage County was named by Time Magazine as its Number 1 Theater Production for 2007.
External links
- Anna D. Shapiro at the Internet off-Broadway DatabaseLortel ArchivesThe Lortel Archives, or the Internet Off-Broadway Database is an online database that catalogues theatre productions shown off-Broadway.The archives are named in honor of actress and theatrical producer Lucille Lortel.-See also:...
- Anna Shapiro at Northwestern UniversityNorthwestern UniversityNorthwestern University is a private research university in Evanston and Chicago, Illinois, USA. Northwestern has eleven undergraduate, graduate, and professional schools offering 124 undergraduate degrees and 145 graduate and professional degrees....
- Anna D. Shapiro at Steppenwolf Theatre CompanySteppenwolf Theatre CompanySteppenwolf Theatre Company is a Tony Award-winning Chicago theatre company founded in 1974 by Gary Sinise, Terry Kinney and Jeff Perry in the basement of a church in Highland Park, Illinois. It has since relocated to Chicago's Halsted Street, in the Lincoln Park neighborhood. Its name comes from...