On Friday, November 17th The League of Professional Theatre Women is sponsoring a free event at the Bruno Walter Auditorium at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center (111 Amsterdam Avenue at 65th Street, New York). The public is invited to this special interview of Tony Award winning Director/Choreographer Susan Stroman about her brilliant career by Broadway Playwright Sharon Washington, at 6 p.m.

The event, which is open to the public, is part of the League of Professional Theatre Women’s (LPTW) Oral History Project in partnership with the Library and is a highlight of LPTW’s 41^st season.

Susan Stroman, Director/Choreographer is a five-time Tony Award winning director and choreographer known for the Broadway musicals Crazy for You, Contact, The Scottsboro Boys, and The Producers. She is the winner of a record-making 12 Tony Awards including Best Direction and Best Choreography. Her work has been honored with Olivier, Drama Desk, Outer Critics Circle, Lucille Lortel, and a record six Astaire Awards. 

For Broadway, she most recently directed and choreographed the new Kander & Ebb musical New York, New York and directed the new play POTUS: Or, Behind Every Great Dumbass Are Seven Women Trying to Keep Him Alive. This season in London’s West End, she directed and choreographed the revival of Crazy for You at the Gillian Lynne Theatre. Other Broadway credits include: Show Boat, Prince of Broadway, Bullets Over Broadway, Big Fish, Oklahoma!, Young Frankenstein, Thou Shalt Not, The Music Man, Big, The Frogs, and Steel Pier.

Off-Broadway she directed and choreographed Little Dancer, The Beast in the Jungle, Dot, Flora the Red Menace, And the World Goes ‘Round, Happiness, The Last Two People on Earth: An Apocalyptic Vaudeville, as well as The Merry Widow for The Metropolitan Opera. She has created ballets for New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Martha Graham. She received the American Choreography Award for her work in Columbia Pictures feature film Center Stage. She is the recipient of the George Abbott Award for Lifetime Achievement in the American Theater and an inductee of the Theater Hall of Fame in New York City. www.SusanStroman.com

Sharon Washington, Playwright/Actor was nominated for a 2023 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical as co-writer of New York New York. She made her debut as playwright with her solo play Feeding The Dragon which played Off-Broadway at Primary Stages and was nominated for Outer Critics, Lortel and Audelco Awards. She was the Primary Stages 2017-18 Tow Foundation Playwright-in-Residence. The play was recorded as an Audible Original and selected as an Audible Essentials Top 100 pick.

As an actor, last summer Sharon was seen as Queen Margaret in the Public Theater/Shakespeare in the Park production of Richard III, broadcast on PBS Great Performances. Recent film and television appearances include Power Book III: Raising Kanan, Bull;the short film Birdwatching co-starring Amanda Seyfried, and the Academy-Award winning Joker.   You may also recognize her voice as the narrator of several documentary series for Animal Planet, Discovery and NOVA.

On Broadway Sharon appeared in The Scottsboro Boys musical. Off-Broadway credits include Dot (Vineyard Theater); Wild with Happy (Public Theater/NYSF – Lucille Lortel nomination and Audelco Award among many others; and numerous regional theaters around the country.

Sharon holds an MFA from the Yale School of Drama and a BA from Dartmouth College.

To attend this event, please RSVP at this link: https://www.nypl.org/events/programs/2023/11/17/league-professional-theatre-women-susan-stroman