Tony Award-winners Chita Rivera, Zoe Caldwell, Susan Stroman, and Jack O'Brien will be among the presenters of the Theater Hall of Fame induction ceremony, which will be held at the Gershwin Theatre on January 30th and hosted by Liz Smith.
The Dancer's Life star, the Master Class actress and the two directors will be joined by fellow presenters such as director Arthur Penn, costume designer Jane Greenwood Edwards and theatrical agent Lionel Larner.
Actor John Lithgow/>/>, actress Sada Thompson, director Sir Peter Hall, costume designer William Ivey Long/>/>, playwright William Gibson and director/choreographer Graciela Daniele will be honored as 2005 inductees into the Theater Hall of Fame. Actress Dorothy Loudon and set designer Ben Edwards will also be posthumously inducted at a ceremony to be held at the Gershwin Theatre and the Grand Salon of the Essex House on January 30th, 2006.
Donald Seawell, producer and founder of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, will also receive the 2005 Founders Award for Contribution to the Theatre. The American Theater Critics Association and the Theater Hall of Fame's members selected the theatre professionals to be inducted this year.
John Lithgow/>/>
, who received a Tony nomination for his performance in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels (in which he currently stars), has appeared on Broadway in over 20 shows. A Tony Award-winner for The Changing Room and Sweet Smell of Success, his credits include The Retreat from Moscow, M. Butterfly, Requiem for a Heavyweight and Beyond Therapy. He is also an accomplished film and TV actor who is often recognized for his stint on "Third Rock from the Sun." Thompson is a Tony Award-winner for Twigs; her Broadway credits include Any Given Day, Saturday Sunday Monday, Happy Days, The Death of Bessie Smith/The American Dream, Johnny No-Trump, Tartuffe and Juno.Long has won Tony Awards for his costumes for Hairspray, The Producers, Crazy For You and the original production of Nine. He has also designed costumes for the current revival of Sweet Charity, the recent revivals of A Streetcar Named Desire and La Cage aux Folles, The Boy from Oz, the revivals of Chicago and Cabaret, and many others.
Gibson won the Best Play Tony Award for penning The Miracle Worker, and was also nominated for his play Two for the Seesaw and for his book of the musical Golden Boy. He has also written the plays Monday After the Miracle, Golda, A Cry for Players and the books of the musicals Seesaw (based on his play) and Raggedy Ann.Daniele, who will next be represented on Broadway by Chita Rivera/>/>: The Dancer's Life, has been nominated for ten Tony Awards. She directed and choreographed Marie Christine, the revival of Annie Get Your Gun, Chronicle of a Death Foretold and Once On This Island, and choreographed Ragtime, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, The Rink and others.Loudon, who passed away in 2003, received a Tony-Award for her signature performance as Miss Hannigan in Annie. She was also nominated for Ballroom and The Fig Leaves Are Falling, and other credits included Jerry's Girls, Noises Off, The West Side Waltz and Sweeney Todd, in which she replaced Angela Lansbury/>/>
as Mrs. Lovett/>/>
.
Edwards, who died in 1999 and who was also a producer, was nominated for 14 Tony Awards; he received a Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in 1998. His Broadway credits include The Iceman Cometh, Medea, A Moon for the Misbegotten, The Ballad of the Sad Cafe and The Dark at the Top of the Stairs.
