Shakespeare Theatre Company

Gala Honors Laura Linney With 'Will Award'

Laura Linney will receive Shakespeare Theatre Company's William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre at the company's 10th Anniversary Harman Center for the Arts Gala, October 15, at Sidney Harman Hall in Washington, D.C. Linney, who, while at The Juilliard School in New York, was a student of Michael Kahn, now artistic director of the Shakespeare Theatre Company, is receiving the "Will Award" to acknowledge her contributions to classical theater in America. She has been nominated three times for an Academy Award, four times for a Tony Award, once for a BAFTA Award (British Academy of Film and Television Arts), and five times for a Golden Globe. She has won a Screen Actors Guild Award, one National Board of Review Award, two Golden Globes and four Emmy Awards.

She joins an impressive group of classical theater actors and directors who have previously received the award, including Charles Dance, Julie Taymor, Sir John Hurt, Stacey Keach, Dame Diana Rigg, Annette Bening, Sir Ian McKellen, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Dame Judi Dench, Fiona Shaw, Ralph Fiennes, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Dame Maggie Smith, Sir Patrick Stewart, Sam Waterston, Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, Sir Kenneth Branagh, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Kline, the late Joseph Papp, and Kahn.

More than 600 influential arts, business, political and philanthropic leaders attend the annual gala. The evening will begin at Sidney Harman Hall with a champagne and wine reception, followed by the award ceremony and a world-class performance of musical theater, opera, comedy, tragedy, modern dance, and ballet, as well as some surprises. Guests will then enjoy a three-course dinner and dancing at the spectacular National Building Museum.

The gala will be held under the honorary patronage the British Ambassador and Lady Darroch. The Honorable Jane Harman and Barbara Harman will serve as honorary co-chairs. Gala Chairs Landon and Carol Butler will lead a committee of STC trustees and supporters in the effort to raise funds for STC's arts education and community engagement programs.

For tickets and sponsorships please visit www.shakespearetheatre.org/support/special-events/hca-gala/.

Linney most recently appeared on Netflix's new show Ozark, continuing an illustrious career in film, television, and theater. She returned to Broadway in the Manhattan Theatre Club's spring revival of Lillian Hellman's hit, The Little Foxes, for which she received a Tony Nomination for Best Performance by an Actress in a Leading Role in a Play. The Little Foxes, directed by Tony winner Daniel Sullivan, alternates Laura and Cynthia Nixon in the lead roles of Regina Hubbard Giddens and Birdie Hubbard. She also appeared in The Dinner, directed by Oren Moverman with Richard Gere, Steve Coogan and Rebecca Hall. The film premiered on May 5, 2017. Other recent film work includes Tom Ford's Nocturnal Animals, where she played Anne Sutton, Amy Adams' mother. While Linney's performance lasts only three minutes and 15 seconds, it was deemed “a one-scene wonder” by Entertainment Weekly. Other recent film credits include Sully, Genius, Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles: Out of the Shadows, You Can Count On Me, Kinsey, The Savages, The Fifth Estate, Hyde Park On Hudson, The Squid And The Whale, Mystic River, Absolute Power, The Truman Show, Primal Fear, The Mothman Prophecies, Love Actually, P.S., The House Of Mirth, The Details and Congo, among many others. For four seasons Linney starred in, produced, and won several awards for the Showtime Series The Big C. She also won multiple awards for her portrayal of Abigail Adams in the HBO miniseries John Adams directed by Tom Hooper. Early in her career, she starred as Mary Ann Singleton in Armistead Maupin's Tales Of The City series. She appeared as Kelsey Grammer's final girlfriend in the last six episodes of Fraiser; was directed by Stanley Donen in Love Letters, and starred opposite Joanne Woodward in Blind Spot. She has also appeared in many Broadway productions, most notably Time Stands Still and Sight Unseen, both directed by Daniel Sullivan and written by Donald Margulies. Additional credits include Arthur Miller's The Crucible, directed by Richard Eyre opposite Liam Neeson, Six Degrees of Separation, Honour, Uncle Vanya, Les Liaisons Dangereuses, Holiday, and The Seagull. Linney holds two honorary doctorates from her alma maters, Brown University and The Juilliard School.

September 22, 2017

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