Guthrie Theater

Guthrie Theater, Minneapolis, originally the Minneapolis Theater, was planned in 1958 by Tyrone Guthrie as a fully professional classical repertory theatre free from commercial pressure. It opened under his direction in 1963, seating 1,441, of whom none was more than 52 ft. from the centre of the seven-sided thrust stage designed by Guthrie in conjunction with Tanya Moiseiwitsch, who was closely associated with the theatre for several years. It originally presented a summer repertory season only. Many outstanding actors appeared there, including Hume Cronyn, Jessica Tandy, and Zoë Caldwell, all seen in the opening season, when the plays produced were Hamlet, Chekhov's Three Sisters, Arthur Miller's Death of a Salesman, and Molière's The Miser. In 1971 the theatre was renamed in honour of Guthrie, who had remained Artistic Director until 1966. The theatre was run from 1971 to 1977 by the English director Michael Langham (1919– ), who had succeeded Guthrie at the Stratford (Ontario) Festival. Under his direction the season expanded gradually to 42 weeks, and the touring programme also grew. The Romanian Liviu Ciulei (1923– ), former Artistic Director of the Bulandra Theatre in Bucharest, ran the theatre from 1981 to 1985. He redesigned the stage to give greater flexibility, and opened with an acclaimed production of The Tempest, earlier staged at the Bulandra. Other admired productions were Ibsen's Peer Gynt and Beaumarchais's The Marriage of Figaro. Ciulei was succeeded in 1986 by Garland Wright, who staged works by Molière, Shakespeare, and in 1990 the musical Candide.