As the theater awards season heats up, Fordham alumni are once again getting noticed for brightening the Great White Way and off-Broadway stages.
Two alumnae top the list of the 2015 Tony Award nominees for best actress in a featured play: Patricia Clarkson, FCLC ’82, for her role as Mrs. Kendal in The Elephant Man, and Julie White, PCS ’09, who plays Tanya in Airline Highway.
It’s the first Tony nomination for Clarkson, but the busy actress is no stranger to major awards ceremonies. She earned a pair of Emmys for her recurring role as Sarah O’Connor in the HBO series Six Feet Under, and in 2004 she received an Oscar nomination for her supporting role in the film Pieces of April.
For White, it’s an opportunity to take home a second Tony. She won the best actress award in 2007 for her role as a movie agent in The Little Dog Laughed, when she was surprised to be selected from a field that included Angela Lansbury and Vanessa Redgrave. “It didn’t occur to me that I’d win,” she told FORDHAM magazine in 2010. “A lot of stars had to go into alignment for me to be in that situation.”
Producer John Johnson, FCLC ’02, looks to continue a hot streak at the Tonys. He won his first award in 2013, picked up a pair last year, and earned two nods this spring, as executive producer of This Is Our Youth and Skylight, both of which have been nominated for best revival of a play.
And a former Fordham Theatre faculty member is among the Tony nominees this year. Moritz von Stuelpnagel, who directed the program’s Senior Showcase in 2012 and 2013, earned a best director nomination for the play Hand to God, which Time Out New York has called “the freshest and funniest Broadway comedy in years,” praising him and his cast for “maintaining a fine balance of satire and humanity.”
Including Johnson’s and White’s recent wins, Fordham alumni have earned six Tonys in the past seven years. (The two other recipients are Denzel Washington, FCLC ’77, who earned the 2010 award for best actor, and John Benjamin Hickey, FCLC ’85, who won the 2011 award for best performance by a featured actor in a play.)
Beyond the Tonys, alumni and other members of the Fordham community are up for several other distinguished theater awards (see the complete list below).
Novelist and playwright Anthony Giardina, FCRH ’73, earned outstanding play nominations from the Outer Critics Circle and the Drama Desk for The City of Conversation. The play, which ran last year at Lincoln Center’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater, charts three decades of politics from the perspective of a Washington, D.C., socialite.
And Megan Fairchild, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and a math major at Fordham’s School of Professional and Continuing Studies, is also among the nominees. She made her Broadway debut last fall in On the Town, earning an Outer Critics Circle nomination for outstanding featured actress in a musical.
The winners of the Outer Critics Circle, Drama League, and Drama Desk awards will be announced at ceremonies in May, and the Tony Awards ceremony will be broadcast live on CBS on June 7.
AND THE NOMINEES ARE …
Eleven members of the Fordham family have earned individual nominations or are part of productions that have been nominated for major theater awards this spring.
Tony Award Nominees
Individuals
Best Featured Actress in a Play: Patricia Clarkson (The Elephant Man), Julie White (Airline Highway)
Best Direction of a Play: Moritz von Stuelpnagel (Hand to God)
Shows
An American in Paris, featuring Taeler Cyrus, FCLC ’08
(12 nominations, including Best Musical)
On the Town, featuring Kristine Covillo, FCLC ’05, and Megan Fairchild, PCS student
(Four nominations, including Best Musical Revival)
On the Twentieth Century, featuring Drew King, FCLC ’09
(Five nominations, including Best Musical Revival)
Outer Critics Circle Award Nominees
Individuals
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play: Patricia Clarkson (The Elephant Man)
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Musical: Megan Fairchild (On the Town)
Outstanding New Off-Broadway Play: The City of Conversation by Anthony Giardina, FCRH ’73
Shows
An American in Paris, featuring Taeler Cyrus
(Eight nominations, including Outstanding New Broadway Musical)
On the Twentieth Century, featuring Drew King
(Nine nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Musical)
Drama League Award Nominees
Individual
Distinguished Performance: Julie White (Airline Highway)
Shows
An American in Paris, featuring Taeler Cyrus
(Three nominations, including Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical)
Bootycandy, Aaron Rhyne, FCLC ’02, projection designer
(One nomination: Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play)
The Elephant Man, featuring Patricia Clarkson
(Two nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play)
Finding Neverland, featuring Melanie Moore, FCLC student
(Three nominations, including Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical)
Hand to God, Moritz von Stuelpnagel, director
(Two nominations, including Outstanding Production of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play)
On the Town, featuring Kristine Covillo and Megan Fairchild
(Two nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical)
On the Twentieth Century, featuring Drew King
(Three nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Musical)
Skylight, John Johnson, executive producer
(Three nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play)
This Is Our Youth, John Johnson, executive producer
(One nomination: Outstanding Revival of a Broadway or Off-Broadway Play)
Drama Desk Award Nominees
Individuals
Outstanding Featured Actress in a Play: Julie White (Airline Highway)
Outstanding Play: Anthony Giardina (The City of Conversation)
Outstanding Set Design: Christine Jones, former Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre at Fordham University (Let the Right One In)
Shows
An American in Paris, featuring Taeler Cyrus
(12 nominations, including Outstanding Musical)
The Elephant Man, featuring Patricia Clarkson
(Two nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Play)
On the Town, featuring Kristine Covillo and Megan Fairchild
(Three nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Musical)
On the Twentieth Century, featuring Drew King
(Four nominations, including Outstanding Revival of a Musical)
– Rachel Buttner
