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Bill Irwin Bio
In 1984, Bill Irwin was the first currently performing artist to be awarded a five-year MacArthur Foundation Fellowship, commonly known as a "genius grant," and he was also named a Guggenheim Fellow that year.
Irwin recently starred on Broadway and London’s West End as George in the revival of the Edward Albee play Who's Afraid of Virginia Wool? opposite Kathleen Turner, for which he won the 2005 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play. In 2002 he starred opposite Sally Field in the Tony Award-winning Albee play The Goat or Who Is Sylvia.
Also on Broadway, Irwin's original work Largely New York received five Tony Award nominations, and won Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, and New York Dance and Performance awards. Along with David Shiner, he starred in and choreographed the hit Full Moon, and with Steve Martin, Robin Williams and F. Murray Abraham he was seen in Waiting for Godot at Lincoln Center. Off-Broadway, the Signature Theatre dedicated their entire 2003/2004 season to Irwin's original work, for which he acted as writer, director and star.
Irwin was an original member of Kraken, a theatre company directed by Herbert Blau, as well as an original member of the Pickle Family Circus of San Francisco, where he worked with Larry Pisoni and Geoff Hoyle. Irwin appeared as a guest with the ODC Dance Company of San Francisco, which first produced his original work. His own pieces, often developed with Doug Skinner and Michael O’Conner, include Not Quite/New York, The Courtroom, and Regard of Flight.
PBS recently aired the special "Bill Irwin, Clown Prince" as part of the longstanding Great Performances series. His numerous TV credits also include the closing ceremony of the summer Olympic games in Atlanta, in which he starred, directed and choreographed. Irwin's most recent movie role was in Lady in the Water, and he has also appeared in such films as Igby Goes Down, The Grinch Who Stole Christmas (with Jim Carrey), and A Midsummer Night's Dream (with Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Kline, and Rupert Everett).
There will be screenings of the hour-long PBS special “Bill Irwin, Clown Prince” in the College Center Wednesday, and Friday between 10am and 3pm.
The Bill Irwin Vassar Residency is co-sponsored by: The Department of Physical Education & Athletics, the Department of Dance, the Department of Drama, the Office of the President, the Office of the Dean of the Faculty, the Multidisciplinary Faculty Seminar on Creativity and Contemplation and by a generous gift from Anthony H. Mannara, ’80. |
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