Summer 2008:  Ten of the most prestigious and accomplished regional theatres in the country were invited to nominate multiple actors for consideration to be named LUNT-FONTANNE FELLOWS.  All of the actors who were nominated for this honor: have 20-plus years of experience as professional actors; are widely considered among the top actors in their community; and are widely respected by audiences, directors, and fellow actors for their talent, dedication to craft, attention to detail, and passionate pursuit of excellence – the qualities for which Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne were so revered.

Fall 2008:  With the guidance of a National Advisory Council, Ten Chimneys Foundation selected the “best of the best” from great theatre cities across the country.  

The following are the inaugural Lunt-Fontanne Fellows, as described by their nominating theatres.

“Suzanne Bouchard is a treasured member of the Seattle theater community; she is loved by her fellow actors and adored by audiences across this city. Suzanne has worked in Seattle and other venues for twenty-five years. Most recently she played Catherine in Robert Schenkkan’s By the Waters of Babylon at the Seattle Rep and Mary Haines in The Women at ACT in Seattle. Her range as an actor is uncanny - from Shakespeare to musical work and contemporary comedy. Suzanne is castable in just about any play. She has shined as Nora in A Doll’s House, Amanda in Private Lives, Hanna Jelkes in Night of the Iguana, her perennial favorite, Karen Knightly in The Revengers’ Comedies, and as Shakespeare’s Rosalind, Beatrice, Titania, Lady Macbeth, Ariel, and Margaret. This fall she will appear as Ginger in Steven Dietz’s premiere of Becky’s New Car. Suzanne inspires our community and embodies the notion that acting is among the most noble of professions.”

Jerry Manning, Producing Artistic Director
Seattle Repertory Theatre

“Dan Donohue is a genius. I don’t use that word often or lightly. His idiosyncratic way with language, both classical and contemporary, is always surprising and yet completely true to whatever character he is playing. Indeed, he reveals the truth in what it means to try (and fail) to express one’s self with language. As a member of the acting company at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, he has played over 30 roles in 23 plays. Highlights of his remarkable career here in Ashland including his recent Iago in Othello, Dvornichek in Tom Stoppard's Rough Crossing, Mark Antony in Julius Caesar, Edgar in King Lear, and the three year cycle playing Hal in Henry IV, Parts 1 & 2 and Henry in Henry V. Highlights away from Ashland include Scar in The Lion King on Broadway, Vincent van Gogh in the world premiere of Steven Dietz’s Inventing Van Gogh at Arizona Theatre Company, Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream at Seattle Rep, and several productions with Stephen Wadsworth including Triumph of Love and The Game of Love and Chance. He is a tireless workhorse, never satisfied with his work but always pushing himself and his collaborators to find new angles and greater truth. He is also a gentleman, with a great sense of humor and a joyful collaborative spirit. I am deeply proud that Dan is an ongoing member of OSF’s acting company.”

Bill Rauch, Artistic Director
Oregon Shakespeare Festival

“Lee Ernst is a truly exceptional actor, possessed of extraordinary language and physical skills, acute, razor sharp intelligence, and disciplined scholastic insight – engined with heart, courage, stamina and a relentless and tireless quest for perfection. Over the years many of America’s finest actors have been members of the Milwaukee Rep’s resident acting company, but few have matched Lee’s achievements in such a vast array of highly varied roles: classical and modern, comic and dramatic, young and old, romantic leads and eccentric character roles. Lee’s range as a performer encompasses the theatrical craft to be a chameleon and the openness to stand simply on an all but bare stage with nothing but the text and the depth of his intelligence and emotions to support him. An inaugural member of American Players Theatre, Lee played scores of characters, including the title roles in Hamlet, Cyrano, King Lear and Barrymore. As a member of Milwaukee Rep’s resident company, in roles including Frank Lloyd Wright in the acclaimed world premiere of Work Song and the title roles in Richard III, Tartuffe and Cyrano de Bergerac, Lee has been a shining example of artistic integrity and an inspiration. In the way of all great artists who constantly grow, evolve, and refine, Lee is never content – always working, perfecting, and practicing the smallest moment or detail of every performance.”

Joseph Hanreddy, Artistic Director
Milwaukee Repertory Theater

“In a community overflowing with actors of exceptional talent, Mary Beth Fisher is without peer. She brings a fierce intelligence, a meticulous craft, and an amazing emotional breadth and depth to each of her roles, and these qualities have made her a genuine treasure in the world of Chicago theater. Although she has appeared on virtually every stage in our city (and has worked with a whole fleet of regional and New York companies), much of her most distinctive work has been at the Goodman Theatre, where she has shone in an astonishing variety of roles: the trashy sister in Marvin’s Room, a dizzy socialite in Heartbreak House, the uptight doctor in Sarah Ruhl’s The Clean House, the beleaguered wife in Dinner with Friends. Her most celebrated work at the Goodman has come in her collaborations with playwright Rebecca Gilman; her unique blend of rueful irony, passionate intelligence, and emotional honesty led to indelible portrayals of the central heroines in the premiere productions of Spinning into Butter and Boy Gets Girl. Above all, Mary Beth is an ensemble player in the best sense of that term: a compassionate mentor for younger actors, an energetic and upbeat collaborator in the rehearsal room, and a consummate professional in every aspect of her work and her life. For all of us who have had the good fortune of working with and knowing Mary Beth, she is that rarity: a theater artist at the top of her game whose skill and artistry are matched by her offstage generosity and great good spirit. She brings honor and honesty to every endeavor with which she is associated, and we are thrilled to count her among our family of artists.”

Steve Scott, Associate Producer
Goodman Theatre

“Jon Gentry is one of America’s only actors to have an equally distinguished and thriving career in professional theatre created for families and “Big People” theatre. He has created dozens of roles for Childsplay, Arizona’s great professional theatre for young people and families. Jon just might hold the record for playing the largest number of animal characters in the history of the American theatre! Jon enjoys an equally important concurrent career as a guest actor in virtually every professional adult theatre in the region. But by actively choosing to direct the majority of his considerable creative talents to stimulate and challenge young people, he is a nationally visible and supremely gifted ambassador for the entire field of theatre for youth. Probably most memorable in this arena were his performances around the globe as Benjamin in The Yellow Boat by David Saar, the first play for young people about HIV/AIDS. To each role he occupies, whether it’s the procrastinating Bunny in Goodnight, Moon or Roy Cohn in Angels in America or Max Bialystock in The Producers, he brings a signature uniqueness and wit to his creations. Jon is unafraid to take enormous imaginative risks that are always grounded in a base of reality. Through his considerable talent, passion, love of theatre, and belief in its potential as a change agent in the lives of young people – as both an actor and a teacher – Jon challenges young people to discover their best and inspires adult audiences to examine their world with childlike wonder.”

David Ira Goldstein, Artistic Director
Arizona Theatre Company

“A versatile actor, storyteller, and beacon of Atlanta’s theatrical community - Don Griffin is simply a treasure. He is an engaging actor with an ever-increasing ability to create contradictory, nuanced, and deeply felt characters. What’s more, Griffin possesses an exceptional quality, the common touch. People of all walks of life find their way into his characterizations through a subtle, yet effective ingenuousness. This trait was likely sharpened through his work as a storyteller, where he went to various schools and communities throughout the Southeast, and learned that diverse audiences receive work in different ways. When Griffin performs, it appears that he invented the work in that instant, as though the life onstage was being lived for the very first time, and that the text was coined spontaneously. His timing is laser-like in its specificity; his sense of comic invention is impeccable; and his ability to mine a text for language-based laughs of truthful recognition cannot be matched. This is what Don Griffin so often delivers to the Alliance stage and to the audiences of Atlanta. He is a secret weapon, naturally playing characters that seem “unplayable.” This was most recently proven in August Wilson Full Circle, a rotating repertory of Gem of the Ocean and Radio Golf. Griffin’s indelible artistry brought two of August Wilson’s most complex and difficult characters to vivid, often hilarious, and unforgettable life. Don Griffin is a natural, poetic, and consummate actor at the apex of his craft, a historian of Atlanta theatre, and a precious gem of this community.”

Susan Booth, Artistic Director
Alliance Theatre

“Fran is one of the original members of the Steppenwolf ensemble, and has worked on the stages of Steppenwolf for thirty years. He spent fourteen years in Los Angeles, where he pursued a career in television and film in addition to continuing his life on the stage at Steppenwolf and theaters in Los Angeles. With Steppenwolf, Fran has traveled with productions to Broadway, London, Australia, La Jolla and Los Angeles. In addition, Fran has directed, worked in the Steppenwolf for Young Adults education program, and taught in our professional training program for actors, the School at Steppenwolf. Fran’s return to Chicago in 2006 has been a huge boon to Steppenwolf. In his time here since his return, he has become a central figure in our season’s productions and this year, he anchors three of our five subscription-series productions. He returns to this season after his Broadway run in our production of August: Osage County in the role he originated at Steppenwolf. As an original member of the Steppenwolf ensemble and an active participant in the theater’s current work, Fran serves as a crucial link in the theater’s culture. In our current production, Fran is working with Jon Hill, one of the newest members of the ensemble, under the direction of long-standing ensemble member Frank Galati. Fran has worked repeatedly with Frank (he was an original cast member in our production of Frank’s The Grapes of Wrath), and this admixture of three generational perspectives enlivens the culture of the theater and deepens the connection among them. Fran is enormously conscientious about serving as an ambassador for the theater with visiting artists and audiences, helping to integrate the values of the theater into the expanding culture of our work.”

Martha Lavey, Artistic Director
Steppenwolf Theatre Company

“Naomi is a perpetual favorite on our stage and is an affiliated artist with Arena. She most recently appeared in last season’s Arthur Miller Repertory, where she performed roles in both A View from the Bridge (Beatrice) and Death of a Salesman (The Woman). She was embraced by audiences and reviewers alike and thrived under the demands of rehearsing and performing in rep. Naomi’s range is remarkable – from the searing portrayal of Beatrice in A View from the Bridge to her wonderfully comic portrayal of Lucetta in Two Gentlemen of Verona, she is always a wonder on stage. Outside of Arena, Naomi has been a cornerstone of the D.C. theater community for nearly two decades; she is a company member at Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and her credits cover nearly every major theater in Washington, D.C. Her dedication to high-quality regional theater extends to her time off-stage as well. She has taught classes in acting, improvisation, and speech at several large universities in the area and is a well-respected coach for public speaking and auditioning. Naomi is living proof that you can have an exciting, successful career in professional theater without being based in New York City. I am extremely thankful that she is a part of our D.C. community, and look forward to watching her continue to flourish in the years to come.”

Molly Smith, Artistic Director
Arena Stage

“Kim Staunton is an extraordinary actress, bringing a fierce intelligence, remarkable vulnerability, and astonishing emotional range to her work at the Denver Center. A native of Washington, D.C. and a graduate of The Juilliard School, Kim has also performed on and off Broadway and at top regional theatres across the country. She has worked extensively in films (including First Sunday, Changing Lanes, Dragonfly, and Heat) and on television (including The Nine, Bones, Strong Medicine, Judging Amy, Law and Order, and TNT’s Original Movie, Glory and Honor). Her acting work has covered an extraordinarily wide range of roles: a haunted, vulnerable, passionate, amusing but tragic Blanche Dubois; the crazed Madwoman of Harlem in Madwoman; the repressed, careful wife transforming into the knowing, defiant woman in Oyamo’s play Selfish Sacrifice (a contemporary adaptation of Ibsen’s A Doll’s House); many of the remarkable women in August Wilson’s American Century Cycle; and Cleopatra in Antony and Cleopatra. Kim Staunton is one of the most generous actresses that I know. After so many years of working in the theatre, Kim continues to bring total commitment to the moment and, perhaps most astonishing, an unfettered joy to her acting. Because she is so generous onstage and offstage, everyone loves working with her. Her commitment to the ensemble of a production has an alchemical effect on the other actors – everyone’s work gets better because Kim cares so deeply. Above all, Kim brings heart, passion, and compassion to each and every role. It’s part of who she is – a deeply committed, imaginative, talented, caring, and sensitive woman.”

Kent Thompson, Artistic Director
Denver Center Theatre Company

“Jack Willis is a force of nature. Unfailingly generous, hugely courageous, astonishingly transformative, and profoundly committed to the art of live theater, Jack Willis has been a real beacon at A.C.T. He has inspired our students to make bigger, bolder choices, he has supported his fellow company members in their own quests for artistic growth at the same time that he has challenged himself to venture into uncharted territory (from South African accents to Jacobean drama) without fear, and he has never hesitated to ask for help and to push himself to the next level. I have found him to be a delightful and compassionate collaborator, even in very tough circumstances, and a passionate advocate for A.C.T. in the community. But most of all, Jack Willis is an astonishing stage actor. He has enormous depth and inner life, and at the same time he has a vocal and physical instrument that makes every audience member feel he is performing just for them. He can play desperate drag queens (Happy End), domineering patriarchs (Cat on a Hot Tin Roof), duplicitous businessmen (The Little Foxes) and fanatic Communist intellectuals (Rock 'N' Roll) with complete honesty, huge panache, and great imagination. Every performance is a surprise and a discovery, yet he is also infinitely consistent and dependable.”

Carey Perloff, Artistic Director
American Conservatory Theater