Guthrie Theater's Kenneth H. Washington Dies at 68

According to The StarTribune, the Guthrie Theater's director of company development, Kenneth H. Washington, has died. He was 68.

"A guru-like figure," according to the report, Washington died in his Minneapolis apartment on Wednesday after a battle with kidney disease.

"He single-handedly changed the direction of my life," said Santino Fontana, who acted at the Guthrie as a teenager. "I was 17 when I first met him at a scholarship competition in Florida. Ken was one of the judges. I was set on going into music at the University of Michigan. He told me, 'I think you're making a mistake.' He guided me as my mentor, my friend, my role model ever since."

The GUTHRIE THEATER (Joe Dowling, Director) was founded by Sir Tyrone Guthrie in 1963 and is an American center for theater performance, production, education and professional training. The Tony Award-winning Guthrie Theater is dedicated to producing the great works of dramatic literature, developing the work of contemporary playwrights and cultivating the next generation of theater artists. With annual attendance of nearly 500,000 people, the Guthrie Theater presents a mix of classic plays and contemporary work on its three stages. Under the artistic leadership of Joe Dowling since 1995, the Guthrie continues to set a national standard for excellence in theatrical production and performance. In 2006, the Guthrie opened its new home on the banks of the Mississippi River in Minneapolis. Designed by Pritzker Prize-winning architect Jean Nouvel, the Guthrie Theater houses three state-of-the-art stages, production facilities, classrooms and dramatic public lobbies.