Michael Kahn, the 25-plus-year Artistic Director of Washington’s Shakespeare Theatre Company, has been named to the Theater Hall of Fame, the American Theater Critics Association announced today.
Kahn, whose company received this year’s Tony Award as America’s Outstanding Regional Theater, joined Christopher Durang, Sam Waterson, Paula Vogel, Trevor Nunn, Betty Buckley, Lincoln Center Theater Artistic Director Andre Bishop, and the famed costume designer Martin Packledinaz, who died earlier this year, as 2012 inductees. The Award honors lifetime achievement in American Theater. Over 350 American Theatre Critics Association members and Hall of Fame members selected the octet from a slate of 51 nominated theater artists.
Reached today, Kahn told DC Theatre Scene: “I am very pleased and honored to be recognized by the Theater Hall of Fame and to join the extraordinary theatre artists who have already received this acknowledgment.”
Nominators noted Kahn’s work as director of eight Broadway shows, including the Tony-nominated 1983 production of Show Boat, but he was selected principally for his work with the Shakespeare Theatre Company, and also for his tenure as head of theater at Julliard.
Chris Rawson, the recently-retired principal theater critic for the Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, served as Chair of the nominating committee, which also included Jay Novick, formerly principal theater critic for the Village Voice, and Jeffrey Eric Jenkins, a member of NYU Tisch School of the Arts drama faculty. James N. Nederlander and Marian Seldes served as Honorary Chairs.
The new inductees will be presented formally on Jan. 28, 2013, at 7:30 PM in the North Rotunda of New York’s Gershwin Theatre, where the names of Hall of Fame members are inscribed on the walls in raised gold letters. Dinner at the New York Friar’s Club will follow.
