“I am honored to return to Ten Chimneys in 2010. What Ten Chimneys Foundation is accomplishing with this program is truly astounding. This kind of opportunity simply hasn’t existed before, anywhere. And it’s so important; it’s so meaningful. I am proud and excited to be a part of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program.” – Lynn Redgrave
Acclaimed actress Lynn Redgrave was the very first master teacher for the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program. In addition to a prolific award-winning career on Broadway, in London , and in film and television, Miss Redgrave was actually named in honor of Lynn Fontanne – making her a particularly meaningful choice to launch this important program. Ms. Redgrave was such a powerfully insightful leader for the inaugural year of the Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship Program that Ten Chimneys Foundation invited her to return in 2010 to work with a new class of the country’s top regional theatre actors. Ms. Redgrave enthusiastically agreed.
Following two years as the inaugural Master Teacher (2009-2010), Lynn Redgrave will serve as a bridge to the third year of the program by working with the next Master Teacher and guiding the 2011 process.
“Lynn Redgrave was an extraordinary teacher and leader. Her talent, and generosity, and intellect, and intuition created an experience that is already having a ripple effect on American theatre. I am thrilled beyond words that the 2010 Partner Theatres will have the opportunity to send their communities’ top actors to have the same experience this inaugural class of Fellows has had.” – Sean Malone , President, Ten Chimneys Foundation
“Lynn Redgrave is astounding. She is completely open, utterly gracious, and un-judgmental about the work that she sees. She has given some of the most insightful notes that I have ever experienced in my life. She can say to an actor in one line something that will completely and utterly change their point of view, and completely and utterly change their performance.” – Mary Beth Fisher , Inaugural Lunt-Fontanne Fellow (Nominated by Chicago ’s Goodman Theatre )
“Lynn Redgrave was a perfect fit to lead the first Fellowship. While her name and professional reputation might tend to be a little intimidating, her easy manner with the actors created an environment suited to honest work and collaboration.” – American Theatre magazine
Ms. Redgrave and the selected Lunt-Fontanne Fellows will focus on Shakespeare during the 2010 master class and retreat.
From Lynn Redgrave at www.redgrave.com:
After training at London’s Central School, I made my professional debut in a 1962 production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM at the Royal Court Theatre. Following a tour of BILLY LIAR and rep in Dundee, I made my West End debut at the Haymarket, in N.C. Hunter’s THE TULIP TREE with Celia Johnson and John Clements. Then came an invitation to join The National Theatre for its inaugural season at the Old Vic, and with it the opportunity to work with such directors as Gaskill, Dexter, Olivier, Zeffirelli and Coward in roles such as Rose in THE RECRUITING OFFICER, Barblin in ANDORRA, Jackie in HAY FEVER, Kattrin in MOTHER COURAGE, Miss Prue in LOVE FOR LOVE, and Margaret in MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING which kept me busy for the next three years.
During that time I appeared in films such as TOM JONES, GIRL WITH GREEN EYES and THE DEADLY AFFAIR. My big chance came in 1966 with the title role in GEORGY GIRL, which earned me the New York Film Critics Award, the Golden Globe® and an Oscar® nomination.
In 1967 I made my Broadway debut in BLACK COMEDY with Michael Crawford and Geraldine Page. London appearances included Michael Frayn’s THE TWO OF US with Richard Briers at the Garrick, David Hare’s SLAG at the Royal Court, and BORN YESTERDAY, directed by Tom Stoppard at Greenwich.
In 1974, I returned to Broadway in MY FAT FRIEND. There soon followed KNOCK KNOCK with Charles Durning, MRS. WARREN’S PROFESSION (for a Tony nomination) with Ruth Gordon, and SAINT JOAN. Then in the 1985/86 season I appeared with Rex Harrison, Claudette Colbert, and Jeremy Brett in AREN’T WE ALL? and with Mary Tyler Moore in A. R. Gurney’s SWEET SUE. Outside New York, I was in MISALLIANCE in Chicago with Irene Worth, (earning the Sarah Siddons and Joseph Jefferson awards), TWELFTH NIGHT at the American Shakespeare Festival, CALIFORNIA SUITE, THE KING AND I, HELLZAPOPPIN’, LES DAMES DU JEUDI, LES LIAISONS DANGEREUSES, THE CHERRY ORCHARD and in the early winter of 1991 starred with Stewart Granger and Ricardo Montalban in a Hollywood production of DON JUAN IN HELL.
With my sister Vanessa as Olga, I returned to the London stage playing Masha in THREE SISTERS in 1991 at the Queen’s Theatre, London, and later played the title role in a television production of WHATEVER HAPPENED TO BABY JANE, again with Vanessa. Highlights of my early movie career also include THE NATIONAL HEALTH, EVERYTHING YOU ALWAYS WANTED TO KNOW ABOUT SEX, THE HAPPY HOOKER and GETTING IT RIGHT. For American television I was seen in the series TEACHERS ONLY, HOUSE CALLS, CENTENNIAL and CHICKEN SOUP, while for the BBC I starred in THE FAINT-HEARTED FEMINIST, A WOMAN ALONE, DEATH OF A SON, CALLING THE SHOTS and FIGHTING BACK. I played Broadway again in MOON OVER BUFFALO (1996) with co-star Robert Goulet, and starred in the world premiere of Tennessee Williams’ THE NOTEBOOK OF TRIGORIN, based on Chekhov’s THE SEAGULL.
My film career has been revitalized in recent years, including Bill Condon’s GODS AND MONSTERS (1998, Golden Globe winner), Scott Hicks’ 1996 SHINE, P.J. Hogan’s PETER PAN, Bill Condon’s KINSEY, and James Ivory’s THE WHITE COUNTESS.
