Robert Falls
Encyclopedia
Robert Falls is an American theater director and the current Artistic Director
of the Goodman Theatre
in Chicago, Illinois.
to Arthur Joseph Falls and Nancy Stribling. He received his BFA in Directing and Playwriting at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, after which he studied acting with Edward Kaye-Martin in New York. His career as a theater director was launched with his 1985 production of Hamlet
at the Wisdom Bridge Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director from 1977 to 1985. From 1986 to the present, he has served as the Artistic Director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where he has directed more than 30 major productions and produced/co-produced more than 200 plays and 100 premieres.
magazine one of the “top ten best theater companies in the United States” and received a Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992). Falls has directed more than 30 major productions and produced/co-produced more than 200 plays and 100 premieres on local, national and international stages. His Chicago credits include performances at Goodman Theatre
, Lyric Opera of Chicago
, Remains Theatre, Ivanhoe Theatre, Wisdom Bridge Theatre, St. Nicholas Theatre, Athaneum Theatre, Oak Park Shakespeare Festival, Northlight Theatre and Court Theatre. New York credits include productions at Roundabout Theatre, Longacre Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore, Plymouth Theatre, Joseph Papp Public Theater, Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Metropolitan Opera Company, Westside Theatre, Circle in the Square, Lincoln Center Theater, New York Shakespeare Festival, Belasco Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, The Acting Company and Direct Theatre. International credits include productions at Lyric Theatre in London, Abbey Theatre in Dublin; and productions in Scotland
, Germany
, Japan
, South Korea
and the Netherlands
, among other countries.
, by David Mamet
, on Broadway
at the Belasco Theatre
. The production starred Haley Joel Osmont, Cedric the Entertainer
and John Leguizamo
. It received mixed reviews, closing after just 8 performances.
More successfully, Falls directed Talk Radio
by Eric Bogosian
at the Longacre Theatre
, which was nominated for a 2007 Tony Award
for Best Revival of a Play. The play starred Liev Schreiber
, who was nominated for a 2007 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his work. He directed the American premiere of Conor McPherson
's Shining City on Broadway, starring Oliver Platt
; both the production and Platt's performance were nominated for 2006 Tony Awards.
In 1996, Falls directed a re-mounting of his nationally acclaimed 1994 Goodman production of Tennessee Williams
' The Night of the Iguana on Broadway. Falls directed Horton Foote
's The Young Man From Atlanta
, which was nominated for a 1997 Tony Award for Best Play. His 1998/1999 production of Death of a Salesman
for the Goodman moved to Broadway, where it was honored with four 1999 Tony Awards, including Best Director of a Play and Best Revival of a Play. It was also named by Time magazine as one of the season's "10 best" American theater productions. His production of Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
, which ran on Broadway between 2000 and 2004, went on to tour Germany, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands. His Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night
, starring Brian Dennehy
, Vanessa Redgrave
, Philip Seymour Hoffman
and Robert Sean Leonard
, received three 2003 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play, and three 2003 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Director of a Play.
by Steve Tesich (1989) at Goodman Theatre. At Westside Theatre in New York, Falls directed the world premiere of The Food Chain by Nicky Silver in 1995. At Lincoln Center Theater in New York, he directed the world premiere of SubUrbia by Eric Bogosian in 1994. At Wisdom Bridge Theatre, he directed the world premieres of Life and Limb by Keith Reddin (1984), In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison by Jack Abbott (1983), Standing on My Knees by John Olive (1981) and Bagtime by Alan Rosen, Louis Rosen and Thom Bishop, based on the newspaper columns of Bob Greene
and Paul Galloway
(a co-production with Drury Lane Water Tower Theatre) in 1979. He also directed the world premiere of Fits and Starts by Grace McKeaney at Northlight Theatre in Evanston, Illinois, in 1978.
Artistic director
An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company, that handles the organization's artistic direction. He or she is generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogul, since the organization is generally a non-profit organization...
of the Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
in Chicago, Illinois.
Early years
Falls was born in Ashland, IllinoisAshland, Illinois
Ashland is a village in Cass County, Illinois, United States. The population was 1,333 at the 2010 census.-Geography:Ashland is located at ....
to Arthur Joseph Falls and Nancy Stribling. He received his BFA in Directing and Playwriting at the University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign, after which he studied acting with Edward Kaye-Martin in New York. His career as a theater director was launched with his 1985 production of Hamlet
Hamlet
The Tragical History of Hamlet, Prince of Denmark, or more simply Hamlet, is a tragedy by William Shakespeare, believed to have been written between 1599 and 1601...
at the Wisdom Bridge Theatre, where he served as Artistic Director from 1977 to 1985. From 1986 to the present, he has served as the Artistic Director of Chicago's Goodman Theatre, where he has directed more than 30 major productions and produced/co-produced more than 200 plays and 100 premieres.
Career
During Falls’ two decades at the Goodman, the largest not-for-profit producing theater in Chicago, Illinois, the theater was named in 2003 by TimeTime (magazine)
Time is an American news magazine. A European edition is published from London. Time Europe covers the Middle East, Africa and, since 2003, Latin America. An Asian edition is based in Hong Kong...
magazine one of the “top ten best theater companies in the United States” and received a Special Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre (1992). Falls has directed more than 30 major productions and produced/co-produced more than 200 plays and 100 premieres on local, national and international stages. His Chicago credits include performances at Goodman Theatre
Goodman Theatre
The Goodman Theatre is a professional theater company located in Chicago's Loop. A major part of Chicago theatre, it is the city's oldest currently active nonprofit theater organization...
, Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago
Lyric Opera of Chicago is one of the leading opera companies in the United States. It was founded in Chicago in 1952, under the name 'Lyric Theatre of Chicago' by Carol Fox, Nicolà Rescigno and Lawrence Kelly, with a season that included Maria Callas's American debut in Norma...
, Remains Theatre, Ivanhoe Theatre, Wisdom Bridge Theatre, St. Nicholas Theatre, Athaneum Theatre, Oak Park Shakespeare Festival, Northlight Theatre and Court Theatre. New York credits include productions at Roundabout Theatre, Longacre Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, Manhattan Theatre Club/Biltmore, Plymouth Theatre, Joseph Papp Public Theater, Eugene O’Neill Theatre, Metropolitan Opera Company, Westside Theatre, Circle in the Square, Lincoln Center Theater, New York Shakespeare Festival, Belasco Theatre, Guthrie Theatre, The Acting Company and Direct Theatre. International credits include productions at Lyric Theatre in London, Abbey Theatre in Dublin; and productions in Scotland
Scotland
Scotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
, Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
, Japan
Japan
Japan is an island nation in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean, it lies to the east of the Sea of Japan, China, North Korea, South Korea and Russia, stretching from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea and Taiwan in the south...
, South Korea
South Korea
The Republic of Korea , , is a sovereign state in East Asia, located on the southern portion of the Korean Peninsula. It is neighbored by the People's Republic of China to the west, Japan to the east, North Korea to the north, and the East China Sea and Republic of China to the south...
and the Netherlands
Netherlands
The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
, among other countries.
Broadway
Falls most recently directed American BuffaloAmerican Buffalo (play)
American Buffalo is a 1975 play by American playwright David Mamet which had its premiere in a showcase production at the Goodman Theatre, Chicago. After two more showcase productions, it opened on Broadway on February 16, 1977...
, by David Mamet
David Mamet
David Alan Mamet is an American playwright, essayist, screenwriter and film director.Best known as a playwright, Mamet won a Pulitzer Prize and received a Tony nomination for Glengarry Glen Ross . He also received a Tony nomination for Speed-the-Plow . As a screenwriter, he received Oscar...
, on Broadway
Broadway theatre
Broadway theatre, commonly called simply Broadway, refers to theatrical performances presented in one of the 40 professional theatres with 500 or more seats located in the Theatre District centered along Broadway, and in Lincoln Center, in Manhattan in New York City...
at the Belasco Theatre
Belasco Theatre
The Belasco Theatre is a legitimate Broadway theatre located at 111 West 44th Street in midtown-Manhattan.-History:Designed by architect George Keister for impresario David Belasco, the interior featured Tiffany lighting and ceiling panels, rich woodwork and expansive murals by American artist...
. The production starred Haley Joel Osmont, Cedric the Entertainer
Cedric the Entertainer
Cedric Antonio Kyles , known professionally by his stage name Cedric the Entertainer, is an American actor, comedian and director...
and John Leguizamo
John Leguizamo
Jonathan Alberto "John" Leguizamo is an Colombian-American actor, producer, voice artist, and comedian.-Early life:...
. It received mixed reviews, closing after just 8 performances.
More successfully, Falls directed Talk Radio
Talk Radio (play)
Talk Radio is a 1987 Pulitzer Prize-nominated play written by Eric Bogosian, based on a concept by Bogosian and Tad Savinar. It centers around Barry Champlain, a Cleveland-area shock jock, on the eve of his radio show's national syndication....
by Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian
Eric Bogosian is an American actor, playwright, monologist, and novelist of Armenian descent.-Personal life:Bogosian, an Armenian-American, was born in Woburn, Massachusetts, the son of Edwina, a hairdresser and instructor, and Henry Bogosian, an accountant. After graduating from Oberlin College,...
at the Longacre Theatre
Longacre Theatre
The Longacre Theatre is a Broadway theatre located at 220 West 48th Street in midtown Manhattan.-Theatre History:Designed by architect Henry Beaumont Herts in 1912, it was named for Longacre Square, the original name for Times Square...
, which was nominated for a 2007 Tony Award
Tony Award
The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes achievement in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ceremony in New York City. The awards are given for Broadway...
for Best Revival of a Play. The play starred Liev Schreiber
Liev Schreiber
Isaac Liev Schreiber , commonly known as Liev Schreiber, is an American actor, producer, director, and screenwriter. He became known during the late 1990s and early 2000s, having initially appeared in several independent films, and later mainstream Hollywood films, including the Scream trilogy of...
, who was nominated for a 2007 Tony Award for Best Actor in a Play for his work. He directed the American premiere of Conor McPherson
Conor McPherson
Conor McPherson is an Irish playwright and director.-Life and career:McPherson was born in Dublin, . He was educated at University College Dublin, McPherson began writing his first plays there as a member of UCD Dramsoc, the college's dramatic society, and went on to found Fly By Night Theatre...
's Shining City on Broadway, starring Oliver Platt
Oliver Platt
Oliver James Platt is a Canadian-American actor. He is currently starring in the Showtime original series, The Big C with Laura Linney.-Early life:...
; both the production and Platt's performance were nominated for 2006 Tony Awards.
In 1996, Falls directed a re-mounting of his nationally acclaimed 1994 Goodman production of Tennessee Williams
Tennessee Williams
Thomas Lanier "Tennessee" Williams III was an American writer who worked principally as a playwright in the American theater. He also wrote short stories, novels, poetry, essays, screenplays and a volume of memoirs...
' The Night of the Iguana on Broadway. Falls directed Horton Foote
Horton Foote
Albert Horton Foote, Jr. was an American playwright and screenwriter, perhaps best known for his Academy Award-winning screenplays for the 1962 film To Kill a Mockingbird and the 1983 film Tender Mercies, and his notable live television dramas during the Golden Age of Television...
's The Young Man From Atlanta
The Young Man From Atlanta
The Young Man From Atlanta is a drama written by American dramatist, Horton Foote first produced Off Broadway by the Signature Theatre on 27 January 1995. Foote received the 1995 Pulitzer Prize for Drama for the work...
, which was nominated for a 1997 Tony Award for Best Play. His 1998/1999 production of Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman
Death of a Salesman is a 1949 play written by American playwright Arthur Miller. It was the recipient of the 1949 Pulitzer Prize for Drama and Tony Award for Best Play. Premiered at the Morosco Theatre in February 1949, the original production ran for a total of 742 performances.-Plot :Willy Loman...
for the Goodman moved to Broadway, where it was honored with four 1999 Tony Awards, including Best Director of a Play and Best Revival of a Play. It was also named by Time magazine as one of the season's "10 best" American theater productions. His production of Elton John and Tim Rice's Aida
Aida
Aida sometimes spelled Aïda, is an opera in four acts by Giuseppe Verdi to an Italian libretto by Antonio Ghislanzoni, based on a scenario written by French Egyptologist Auguste Mariette...
, which ran on Broadway between 2000 and 2004, went on to tour Germany, Japan, South Korea and the Netherlands. His Broadway production of Eugene O’Neill's Long Day's Journey into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night
Long Day's Journey Into Night is a 1956 drama in four acts written by American playwright Eugene O'Neill. The play is widely considered to be his masterwork...
, starring Brian Dennehy
Brian Dennehy
Brian Mannion Dennehy is an American actor of film, stage and screen.-Early years:Dennehy was born in Bridgeport, Connecticut, the son of Hannah and Edward Dennehy, who was a wire service editor for the Associated Press; he has two brothers, Michael and Edward. Dennehy is of Irish ancestry and was...
, Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave
Vanessa Redgrave, CBE is an English actress of stage, screen and television, as well as a political activist.She rose to prominence in 1961 playing Rosalind in As You Like It with the Royal Shakespeare Company and has since made more than 35 appearances on London's West End and Broadway, winning...
, Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman
Philip Seymour Hoffman is an American actor and director. Hoffman began acting in television in 1991, and the following year started to appear in films...
and Robert Sean Leonard
Robert Sean Leonard
Robert Sean Leonard is an American actor, who has regularly starred in Broadway and off-Broadway productions. Since 2004 he has played the role of Dr. James Wilson on the TV series House...
, received three 2003 Tony Awards, including Best Revival of a Play, and three 2003 Drama Desk Awards, including Outstanding Director of a Play.
Premieres
Falls is known for his bold, grand-scale world-premiere productions, which have included Frank's Home by Richard Nelson (2006), Dollhouse by Rebecca Gilman (2005), Blue Surge by Rebecca Gilman (2001), Finishing the Picture by Arthur Miller (2004), Griller by Eric Bogosian (1997), Riverview: A Melodrama with Music by John Logan (1992), On the Open Road by Steve Tesich (1989), Book of the Night by Louis Rosen and Thom Bishop (1991) and The Speed of DarknessThe Speed of Darkness (play)
The Speed of Darkness is a play written by Steve Tesich.-Productions:The play received its world premiere at the Goodman Theatre in Chicago, with Bill Raymond as Joe, Stephen Lang as Lou, and Lee Guthrie as Anne....
by Steve Tesich (1989) at Goodman Theatre. At Westside Theatre in New York, Falls directed the world premiere of The Food Chain by Nicky Silver in 1995. At Lincoln Center Theater in New York, he directed the world premiere of SubUrbia by Eric Bogosian in 1994. At Wisdom Bridge Theatre, he directed the world premieres of Life and Limb by Keith Reddin (1984), In the Belly of the Beast: Letters from Prison by Jack Abbott (1983), Standing on My Knees by John Olive (1981) and Bagtime by Alan Rosen, Louis Rosen and Thom Bishop, based on the newspaper columns of Bob Greene
Bob Greene
Robert Bernard Greene, Jr. is an American journalist. He worked for 24 years for the Chicago Tribune newspaper, where he was an award-winning columnist. Greene has written books on subjects varying from Michael Jordan, to small towns, to U.S. presidents. His Hang Time: Days and Dreams with Michael...
and Paul Galloway
Paul Galloway
Paul Galloway was an American newspaper reporter, columnist and storyteller who wrote for both the Chicago Sun-Times and the Chicago Tribune....
(a co-production with Drury Lane Water Tower Theatre) in 1979. He also directed the world premiere of Fits and Starts by Grace McKeaney at Northlight Theatre in Evanston, Illinois, in 1978.