Daniel J. Sullivan
Encyclopedia
Daniel J. Sullivan is an American
theatre and film director
and playwright
.
, the son of Mary Catherine (née Hutton) and John Martin Sullivan. He was raised in San Francisco, where he graduated from San Francisco State University
. In 1963, he began his professional career as an actor
at the city's Actor's Workshop, where he remained for two years.
Sullivan worked as both an actor and director with the Lincoln Center Repertory Company
in the late 1960s and 1970s.His directorial debut there was A.R. Gurney's Scenes from American Life for which Mr. Sullivan won a Drama Desk Award. After two years as Resident Director of the Seattle Repertory Theatre
, he assumed the position of Artistic Director in 1981, serving until 1997. It was there that he directed the first production of his own play, Inspecting Carol
.
Sullivan has forged successful working relationships with many prominent American playwrights. He directed Herb Gardner's Tony winning I'm Not Rappaport
at Seattle Rep before staging it off-Broadway, on Broadway, in London's West End, and the United States national tour. He reteamed with Gardner to stage Conversations with My Father
in Seattle, New York City, and Los Angeles. His first association with Wendy Wasserstein
was the Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning The Heidi Chronicles
, which he directed off Broadway, on Broadway and it's National Tour. The duo later collaborated on The Sisters Rosensweig
on Broadway and the National Tour, An American Daughter
, and Ms. Wasserstein's final play, Third
. He directed both the off-Broadway and screen version of Jon Robin Baitz
's The Substance of Fire
, as well as the original productions of A Fair Country and Ten Unknowns in New York, and Baitz's translation of Hedda Gabler
in Los Angeles. His collaborations with Donald Margulies
include the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Dinner With Friends
in NY and LA, the Broadway revival of Sight Unseen
, and the Broadway productions of Brooklyn Boy
and the 2010 Broadway production of Time Stands Still. Mr. Sullivan has directed all four of Charlayne Woodard
's plays: Pretty Fire, Neat, In Real Life, and The Nightwatcher.
Other Broadway credits include Retreat From Moscow, Morning's at Seven
, Proof
, Major Barbara, A Moon for the Misbegotten
, Accent on Youth, The Homecoming
, Rabbit Hole
, Prelude to a Kiss, After The Night And The Music, Julius Caesar, and Ah, Wilderness. For Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte, Mr. Sullivan directed The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and 2009’s Twelfth Night.
Other Off-Broadway credits include Stuff Happens
, Intimate Apparel
, Ancestral Voices, Spinning Into Butter
, Far East, London Suite
, Psychopathia Sexualis The American Clock
, and Good People
.
At The Old Globe Theatre
, Mr. Sullivan directed Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet, Merry Wives of Windsor and Othello, and at South Coast Repertory
he directed Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew and Volpone.
Sullivan's Broadway acting credits include the 1973 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire
, The Merchant of Venice
, The Playboy of the Western World
, The Good Woman of Setzuan, and Camino Real
.
In addition to his directing, Sullivan currently holds the Swanlund Chair at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Sullivan has two daughters and a son. His wife is actress and noted acting teacher, Mimi Lieber.
Nominations
United States
The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...
theatre and film director
Film director
A film director is a person who directs the actors and film crew in filmmaking. They control a film's artistic and dramatic nathan roach, while guiding the technical crew and actors.-Responsibilities:...
and playwright
Playwright
A playwright, also called a dramatist, is a person who writes plays.The term is not a variant spelling of "playwrite", but something quite distinct: the word wright is an archaic English term for a craftsman or builder...
.
Life and career
Sullivan was born in Wray, ColoradoWray, Colorado
The City of Wray is a Home Rule Municipality that is the county seat of Yuma County, Colorado, United States. The population was 2,187 at the U.S. Census 2000. The school mascot is the Eagles for high school and Eaglets in the lower grades. School colors are purple and white and the Eaglets are...
, the son of Mary Catherine (née Hutton) and John Martin Sullivan. He was raised in San Francisco, where he graduated from San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University
San Francisco State University is a public university located in San Francisco, California. As part of the 23-campus California State University system, the university offers over 100 areas of study from nine academic colleges...
. In 1963, he began his professional career as an actor
Actor
An actor is a person who acts in a dramatic production and who works in film, television, theatre, or radio in that capacity...
at the city's Actor's Workshop, where he remained for two years.
Sullivan worked as both an actor and director with the Lincoln Center Repertory Company
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts
Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood of New York City's Upper West Side. Reynold Levy has been its president since 2002.-History and facilities:...
in the late 1960s and 1970s.His directorial debut there was A.R. Gurney's Scenes from American Life for which Mr. Sullivan won a Drama Desk Award. After two years as Resident Director of the Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre
Seattle Repertory Theatre is a major regional theatre located in Seattle, Washington, at the Seattle Center. It is a member of Theatre Puget Sound and Theatre Communications Group. Founded in 1963, it is led by Artistic Director Jerry Manning and Managing Director Benjamin Moore...
, he assumed the position of Artistic Director in 1981, serving until 1997. It was there that he directed the first production of his own play, Inspecting Carol
Inspecting Carol
Inspecting Carol is a comedic play by Daniel J. Sullivan, written in 1991 and produced by the Seattle Repertory Theatre. It is a variation on the play The Inspector General by Nikolai Gogol....
.
Sullivan has forged successful working relationships with many prominent American playwrights. He directed Herb Gardner's Tony winning I'm Not Rappaport
I'm Not Rappaport
I'm Not Rappaport is a play by Herb Gardner originally staged by Seattle Repertory Theatre in 1984. Its Broadway debut production, directed by Daniel Sullivan, starring Judd Hirsch, Cleavon Little, Jace Alexander, and Mercedes Ruehl, opened on November 19, 1985 at the Booth Theatre, where it ran...
at Seattle Rep before staging it off-Broadway, on Broadway, in London's West End, and the United States national tour. He reteamed with Gardner to stage Conversations with My Father
Conversations with my Father
Conversations with My Father is a play by Herb Gardner.At its core are Eddie Ross , a Russian immigrant Canal Street bartender, and his son Charlie, who yearns to establish - at the very least - a peaceful co-existence with his angry, remote, and verbally and emotionally abusive father, who has...
in Seattle, New York City, and Los Angeles. His first association with Wendy Wasserstein
Wendy Wasserstein
Wendy Wasserstein was an American playwright and an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University...
was the Pulitzer Prize and Tony-winning The Heidi Chronicles
The Heidi Chronicles
The Heidi Chronicles is a 1988 play by Wendy Wasserstein. The play won the 1989 Pulitzer Prize for Drama.-Production history:A workshop production at Seattle Repertory Theatre was held in April 1988, directed by Daniel J. Sullivan....
, which he directed off Broadway, on Broadway and it's National Tour. The duo later collaborated on The Sisters Rosensweig
The Sisters Rosensweig
The Sisters Rosensweig is a play by Wendy Wasserstein. The play focuses on three Jewish- American sisters and their lives. It "broke theatrical ground by concentrating on a non-traditional cast of three middle-aged women." Wasserstein received the William Inge Award for Distinguished Achievement in...
on Broadway and the National Tour, An American Daughter
An American Daughter
An American Daughter is a play written by Wendy Wasserstein. The play takes place in a living room in Georgetown, Washington, D.C.-Production history:...
, and Ms. Wasserstein's final play, Third
Third
Third may refer to:*3 , such as the 3rd of something -see also Ordinal number *Fraction , such as 1/3*1/60 of a second, or 1/3,600 of a minute *Third World, economically underdeveloped nations...
. He directed both the off-Broadway and screen version of 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...
's The Substance of Fire
The Substance of Fire
The Substance of Fire is a play by Jon Robin Baitz.At its core is Isaac Geldhart, a childhood survivor of the Holocaust, who arrived in New York City an orphan, reinvented himself as a bon vivant, married well, and found fame and fortune as a champion of authors who are passionate about their work...
, as well as the original productions of A Fair Country and Ten Unknowns in New York, and Baitz's translation of Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler
Hedda Gabler is a play first published in 1890 by Norwegian playwright Henrik Ibsen. The play premiered in 1891 in Germany to negative reviews, but has subsequently gained recognition as a classic of realism, nineteenth century theatre, and world drama...
in Los Angeles. His collaborations with Donald Margulies
Donald Margulies
Donald Margulies is an American playwright and a professor of English and Theater Studies at Yale University...
include the Pulitzer-Prize-winning Dinner With Friends
Dinner with Friends
Dinner with Friends is a 2000 play written by Donald Margulies. It premiered at the 1998 Humana Festival of New American Plays and opened Off-Broadway in New York on November 4, 1999.-Plot summary:...
in NY and LA, the Broadway revival of Sight Unseen
Sight Unseen (play)
Sight Unseen is a play by Donald Margulies. At its center is Jonathan Waxman, a Brooklyn Jew who has become a very wealthy critically acclaimed artist. Happily married, with a baby on the way, he travels to London for a retrospective of his work...
, and the Broadway productions of Brooklyn Boy
Brooklyn Boy
Brooklyn Boy is a play by American playwright Donald Margulies.Novelist Eric Weiss, critically celebrated but unsuccessful, "arrives" when his new, autobiographical novel becomes a best-seller. An outsider all his life, he is suddenly on the inside of everything: town cars, television studios, the...
and the 2010 Broadway production of Time Stands Still. Mr. Sullivan has directed all four of Charlayne Woodard
Charlayne Woodard
Charlaine "Charlayne" Woodard is an American film, stage and television actress and playwright. She has written four plays, titled Pretty Fire, Neat, In Real Life, which she starred in, and "Flight"....
's plays: Pretty Fire, Neat, In Real Life, and The Nightwatcher.
Other Broadway credits include Retreat From Moscow, Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven
Morning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...
, Proof
Proof
Proof may refer to:* Proof , sufficient evidence or argument for the truth of a proposition* Formal proof* Mathematical proof, a convincing demonstration that some mathematical statement is necessarily true...
, Major Barbara, A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Moon for the Misbegotten
A Moon for the Misbegotten is a play by Eugene O'Neill. The play can be thought of as a sequel to the autobiographical Long Day's Journey into Night...
, Accent on Youth, The Homecoming
The Homecoming
The Homecoming is a two-act play written in 1964 by Nobel laureate Harold Pinter and first published in 1965. The original Broadway production won the 1967 Tony Award for Best Play and its 40th-anniversary Broadway production at the Cort Theatre was nominated for a 2008 Tony Award for "Best Revival...
, Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole
Rabbit Hole is a play written by David Lindsay-Abaire. It was the recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play was originally commissioned by South Coast Repertory and first presented at its Pacific Playwrights Festival reading series in 2005...
, Prelude to a Kiss, After The Night And The Music, Julius Caesar, and Ah, Wilderness. For Shakespeare in the Park at the Delacorte, Mr. Sullivan directed The Merry Wives of Windsor, A Midsummer Night’s Dream and 2009’s Twelfth Night.
Other Off-Broadway credits include Stuff Happens
Stuff Happens
Stuff Happens is a play by David Hare, written in response to the Iraq War. Hare describes it as "a history play" that deals with recent history.The title is inspired by Donald Rumsfeld's response to widespread looting in Baghdad:...
, Intimate Apparel
Intimate Apparel
Intimate Apparel is a play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is a co-production and co-commission between Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland, and South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California....
, Ancestral Voices, Spinning Into Butter
Spinning Into Butter
Spinning Into Butter is a play by American playwright Rebecca Gilman. The play debuted at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago in 1999. It was later produced at the Lincoln Center and the Royal Court Theatre, was named one of the best plays of 1999 by Time, and eventually became the third-most-produced...
, Far East, London Suite
London Suite
London Suite is a play by Neil Simon, later made into a 1996 Made-for-TV movie. It is in a similar style to Simon's earlier works: Plaza Suite and California Suite....
, Psychopathia Sexualis The American Clock
The American Clock
The American Clock is a play by Arthur Miller. The play is about 1930s America during The Great Depression. It is based in part on Studs Terkel's Hard Times: An Oral History of the Great Depression. The play premiered on Broadway at the Biltmore Theatre on November 11, 1980; closing on November 30,...
, and Good People
Good People (play)
Good People is a 2011 play by David Lindsay-Abaire. The world premiere was staged by the Manhattan Theatre Club in New York City. The production was nominated for two 2011 Tony Awards – Best Play and Best Leading Actress in a Play , with the latter winning.- Synopsis :Margie Walsh, a resident of...
.
At The Old Globe Theatre
Old Globe Theatre
The Old Globe is a professional theatre company located in Balboa Park in San Diego, California. It produces about 15 plays and musicals annually in summer and winter seasons...
, Mr. Sullivan directed Julius Caesar, Cymbeline, Romeo and Juliet, Merry Wives of Windsor and Othello, and at South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory
South Coast Repertory is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California.Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964 by David Emmes and Martin Benson and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Marc Masterson and Managing Director Paula Tomei, is widely...
he directed Hamlet, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Taming of the Shrew and Volpone.
Sullivan's Broadway acting credits include the 1973 revival of A Streetcar Named Desire
A Streetcar Named Desire (play)
A Streetcar Named Desire is a 1947 play written by American playwright Tennessee Williams for which he received the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1948. The play opened on Broadway on December 3, 1947, and closed on December 17, 1949, in the Ethel Barrymore Theatre. The Broadway production was...
, The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice
The Merchant of Venice is a tragic comedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1596 and 1598. Though classified as a comedy in the First Folio and sharing certain aspects with Shakespeare's other romantic comedies, the play is perhaps most remembered for its dramatic...
, The Playboy of the Western World
The Playboy of the Western World
The Playboy of the Western World is a three-act play written by Irish playwright John Millington Synge and first performed at the Abbey Theatre, Dublin, on January 26, 1907. It is set in Michael James Flaherty's public house in County Mayo during the early 1900s...
, The Good Woman of Setzuan, and Camino Real
Camino Real (play)
Camino Real is a 1953 play by Tennessee Williams. In the introduction to the Penguin edition of the play, Williams directs the reader to use the Anglicized pronunciation "Cá-mino Réal." The play takes its title from its setting, alluded to El Camino Real, a dead-end place in a Spanish-speaking town...
.
In addition to his directing, Sullivan currently holds the Swanlund Chair at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.
Sullivan has two daughters and a son. His wife is actress and noted acting teacher, Mimi Lieber.
Stage productions
- Twelfth Night (2009)
- Prelude to a Kiss (2007 Revival)
- Rabbit HoleRabbit HoleRabbit Hole is a play written by David Lindsay-Abaire. It was the recipient of the 2007 Pulitzer Prize for Drama. The play was originally commissioned by South Coast Repertory and first presented at its Pacific Playwrights Festival reading series in 2005...
(2006) - After the Night and the MusicAfter the Night and the MusicAfter the Night and the Music is a play by Elaine May.Borrowing its title from the Howard Dietz song "You and the Night and the Music,", it actually is a one-acter preceded by a curtain raiser, a quartet of interlaced monologues, and an intermission....
(2005) - Julius CaesarJulius Caesar (play)The Tragedy of Julius Caesar, also known simply as Julius Caesar, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written in 1599. It portrays the 44 BC conspiracy against...
(2005) - Brooklyn BoyBrooklyn BoyBrooklyn Boy is a play by American playwright Donald Margulies.Novelist Eric Weiss, critically celebrated but unsuccessful, "arrives" when his new, autobiographical novel becomes a best-seller. An outsider all his life, he is suddenly on the inside of everything: town cars, television studios, the...
(2005) - Intimate ApparelIntimate ApparelIntimate Apparel is a play written by Lynn Nottage. The play is a co-production and co-commission between Center Stage, Baltimore, Maryland, and South Coast Repertory, Costa Mesa, California....
(2004) - Sight UnseenSight Unseen (play)Sight Unseen is a play by Donald Margulies. At its center is Jonathan Waxman, a Brooklyn Jew who has become a very wealthy critically acclaimed artist. Happily married, with a baby on the way, he travels to London for a retrospective of his work...
(2004) - The Retreat from MoscowThe Retreat from MoscowThe Retreat from Moscow is a play written by William Nicholson.The play is about the end of a three-decade marriage and the subsequent emotional fallout. The title is taken from Napoleon's costly invasion of Moscow and the subsequent retreat. It was first performed at the Chichester Festival...
(2003) - Morning's at SevenMorning's at SevenMorning's at Seven is a play by Paul Osborn.Its plot focuses on four aging sisters living in a small Midwestern town in 1938, and it deals with ramifications within the family when two of them begin to question their lives and decide to make some changes before it’s too late.The original Broadway...
(2002 revival) - Major Barbara (2001)
- ProofProof (play)Proof is a play by David Auburn originally produced by the Manhattan Theatre Club on 23 May 2000. It then went to Broadway on 24 October 2000 at the Walter Kerr Theatre, and was directed by Daniel J. Sullivan, with Mary-Louise Parker as Catherine, Larry Bryggman as Robert, Ben Shenkman as Hal, and...
(2000) - A Moon for the MisbegottenA Moon for the MisbegottenA Moon for the Misbegotten is a play by Eugene O'Neill. The play can be thought of as a sequel to the autobiographical Long Day's Journey into Night...
(2000 revival) - Ah, Wilderness!Ah, Wilderness!Ah, Wilderness! is a comedy by American playwright Eugene O'Neill that premiered on Broadway at the Guild Theatre on 2 October 1933.-Plot summary:...
(1998) - The Plough and the Stars (1973)
- Narrow Road to the Deep North (1972)
Awards and nominations
Awards- 1972 Drama Desk AwardDrama Desk AwardThe Drama Desk Awards, which are given annually in a number of categories, are the only major New York theater honors for which productions on Broadway, Off-Broadway, Off-Off-Broadway compete against each other in the same category...
for Most Promising Director - Suggs - 2001 Tony Award for Best Direction of a PlayTony Award for Best Direction of a PlayThe Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play has been given since 1960. Before 1960 there was only one award for both play direction and musical direction, then in 1960 the award was split into two categories: Dramatic and Musical. In 1976 the Dramatic category was renamed to Play...
- Proof
Nominations
- 1989 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - The Heidi Chronicles
- 1989 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - The Heidi Chronicles
- 1992 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Conversations With My Father
- 1993 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - The Sisters Rosensweig
- 1993 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - The Sisters Rosensweig
- 2000 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - Dinner with Friends
- 2002 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Morning's at Seven
- 2006 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play - Stuff Happens
- 2006 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play - Rabbit Hole