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Vol. XIX No. 5 February 2004 |
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Director Gerald Gutierrez Dies at 53 Gerald Gutierrez, a Juilliard alumnus who won two consecutive Tony awards as best director for productions at Lincoln Center Theater, died of respiratory complications resulting from the flu on December 29, 2003. He was 53. Gutierrez was one of Broadway's best known directors. In addition to The Heiress and A Delicate Balance (for which he won Tonys in 1995 and 1996, respectively), his other stagings for Lincoln Center Theater included Ivanov (starring another Juilliard alumnus, Kevin Kline), Abe Lincoln in Illinois, The Most Happy Fella , Playboy of the West Indies, Northeast Local, Ring Round the Moon , and Dinner at Eight. Born in Brooklyn, where he lived all his life, Gutierrez attended the State University of New York at Stony Brook before becoming a member of Group 1, Juilliard's first graduating class of actors. (He had also studied piano in the School's Pre-College Division for a number of years before.) He polished his craft as assistant director on road tours of the Acting Company. After directing at various theaters, Gutierrez found a home at Playwrights Horizons, where his productions included Mustapha Matura's Meetings, Jonathan Reynold's Geniuses , Peter Parnell's The Rise and Rise of Daniel Rocket , and Wendy Wasserstein's Isn't It Romantic . Gutierrez returned to Juilliard to direct two productions for the Drama Division, Scapino (1975-76) and The Foreigner (1990-91), as well as a gala benefit honoring the Drama Division's 25th anniversary in 1994. Gerald Gutierrez is survived by his brother, who lives in Smithtown, N.Y.
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