Steppenwolf Member Francis Guinan Chosen As Lunt-Fontanne Fellow

Ten Chimneys Foundation, the National Historic Landmark estate of Broadway legends Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, has chosen Steppenwolf Theatre Company ensemble member Francis Guinan as one of its eleven inaugural LUNT-FONTANNE FELLOWS, as part of the LUNT-FONTANNE FELLOWSHIP PROGRAM, a groundbreaking national program to serve regional theatre actors and the future of American Theatre.
 
Francis Guinan will receive a cash fellowship and will participate in an intensive week-long master class and retreat at Ten Chimneys with a world-renowned and respected master teacher.  Acclaimed actress Lynn Redgrave will be the very first master teacher in the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program.  In addition to a prolific, award-winning career on Broadway, in London, and in film and television, Ms. Redgrave was named in honor of Lynn Fontanne - making her a particularly meaningful choice to launch this important program. 
 
Eleven of the most prestigious and accomplished regional theatres in the country were invited to nominate multiple actors for consideration to be named LUNT-FONTANNE FELLOWS.  All of the actors who were nominated for this honor: have 20-plus years of experience as professional actors; are widely considered among the top actors in their community; and are widely respected by audiences, directors, and fellow actors for their talent, dedication to craft, attention to detail, and passionate pursuit of excellence - the qualities for which Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were so revered.  With the guidance of a National Advisory Council, Ten Chimneys Foundation selected the "best of the best" from these nominees to be the inaugural Lunt-Fontanne Fellows.
 
"Fran is one of the original members of the Steppenwolf ensemble, and has worked on the stages of Steppenwolf for thirty years.  He spent fourteen years in Los Angeles, where he pursued a career in television and film in addition to continuing his life on the stage at Steppenwolf and theaters in Los Angeles.  With Steppenwolf, Fran has traveled with productions to Broadway, London, Australia, La Jolla and Los Angeles.  In addition, Fran has directed, worked in the Steppenwolf for Young Adults education program, and taught in our professional training program for actors, the School at Steppenwolf.  Fran's return to Chicago in 2006 has been a huge boon to Steppenwolf.  In his time here since his return, he has become a central figure in our season's productions and this year, he anchors three of our five subscription-series productions.  He returns to this season after his Broadway run in our production of August: Osage County in the role he originated at Steppenwolf.  As an original member of the Steppenwolf ensemble and an active participant in the theater's current work, Fran serves as a crucial link in the theater's culture.  In our current production, Fran is working with Jon Hill, one of the newest members of the ensemble, under the direction of long-standing ensemble member Frank Galati.  Fran has worked repeatedly with Frank (he was an original cast member in our production of Frank's The Grapes of Wrath), and this admixture of three generational perspectives enlivens the culture of the theater and deepens the connection among them.  Fran is enormously conscientious about serving as an ambassador for the theater with visiting artists and audiences, helping to integrate the values of the theater into the expanding culture of our work."  Martha Lavey, Artistic Director Steppenwolf Theatre Company.
 
Other inaugural LUNT-FONTANNE FELLOWS include: Suzanne Bouchard, Seattle Repertory Theatre (Seattle); Dan Donohue: Oregon Shakespeare Festival (Ashland); Lee Ernst: Milwaukee Repertory Theater (Milwaukee); Mary Beth Fisher: Goodman Theatre (Chicago); Jon Gentry: Arizona Theatre Company (Phoenix and Tucson); Donald Griffin: ALLIANCE THEATRE (Atlanta); Naomi Jacobson:  Arena Stage (Washington, D.C.); Kim Staunton: Denver Center Theatre Company (Denver); Todd Waite: Alley Theatre (Houston); and Jack Willis: American Conservatory Theatre (San Francisco).
 
ABOUT TEN CHIMNEYS FOUNDATION
Ten Chimneys is the home and retreat of Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne, widely considered the greatest acting couple in American theatre history.  (The estate is fully restored to its original glory.  With all of its contents and personal mementos in place, it looks just as it did in the 1930s and ‘40s, when friends like Helen Hayes, Noël Coward, Katherine Hepburn, and countless others visited the Lunts summer after summer.)  For much of the 20th century, Ten Chimneys was the center of the theatrical universe - an important place for the luckiest of artists to retreat, rejuvenate, and collaborate.  The Lunts were known for their dedication to the "next generation" of actors.  They reveled in mentoring young actors.  Legends such as Laurence Olivier, Uta Hagen, Montgomery Clift, and Julie Harris proudly considered themselves protégés of the Lunts.  The Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program continues that tradition of mentorship - as Ten Chimneys reassumes its historic role as a powerful resource and inspiration for American theatre.
 
ABOUT Steppenwolf Theatre COMPANY
Committed to the principle of ensemble performance through the collaboration of a company of actors, directors and playwrights, Steppenwolf Theatre Company's mission is to advance the vitality and diversity of American theater by nurturing artists, encouraging repeatable creative relationships and contributing new works to the national canon.  The company, formed in 1976 by a collective of actors, is dedicated to perpetuating an ethic of mutual respect and the development of artists through on-going group work.  Steppenwolf has grown into an internationally renowned company of forty-one artists whose talents include acting, directing, playwriting, filmmaking and textual adaptation.  For additional information, visit www.steppenwolf.org.

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