Des McAnuff

ARTS AND CULTURE

Des McAnuff is a two-time Tony Award-winning director. He is co-artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival of Canada and is currently represented on Broadway by the 2006 Tony Award-winning production for best musical, Jersey Boys, and by Aaron Sorkin’s The Farnsworth Invention, which officially opens November 14, 2007. A dual citizen of Canada and the United States, he has written, composed and directed for theatre and film companies around the world. Productions developed at La Jolla Playhouse earned 28 Tony Awards during McAnuff’s tenure as artistic director: seven for the McAnuff-helmed Big River (including best musical and best direction of a musical); five for The Who’s Tommy (including best direction of a musical), also directed by McAnuff; one for How to Succeed in Business Without Really Trying (directed by McAnuff); six for Thoroughly Modern Millie; three for I Am My Own Wife; one for Billy Crystal’s 700 Sundays (directed by McAnuff); and the 1993 Tony for outstanding regional theatre. McAnuff’s first feature film was 1998’s Cousin Bette, starring Jessica Lange. In 1999, he produced the critically acclaimed Warner Brothers film Iron Giant, which won nine 1999 Annie Awards from the International Animation Society and a 1999 BAFTA Award from the British Academy. In 2000, McAnuff directed The Adventures of Rocky and Bullwinkle, starring Robert DeNiro, Jason Alexander and Rene Russo. He served as executive producer for Quills, in 2001, which was named best picture by the National Board of Review. McAnuff has taught at Juilliard and has directed at Harvard’s American Repertory Theatre and the Yale Repertory Theatre. Today, McAnuff is co-artistic director of the Stratford Shakespeare Festival, home of the largest classical repertory theatre in North America. Upcoming directing projects for the 2008 Stratford season include Caesar and Cleopatra (starring Christopher Plummer and Anika Noni Rose) andRomeo and Juliet.