Getting to Know Robert Falls
"I'm drawn to big, passionate, messy works," says Robert Falls, director
of Conor McPherson's Shining City.
"Messy emotions, messy people, messy lives."
Falls' own storied career couldn't be less
of a mess. Let's talk numbers: as artistic
director of Chicago's famed Goodman
Theatre for over 20 years, Falls has
produced more than 200 plays, including
over 50 world premieres; directing over
30; and transferring nine plays to Broadway. He's directed
nine Broadway plays and has been nominated for four
Tony Awards (and has won two): one for Best Director
(the revival of Death of a Salesman), and the second for
Outstanding Regional Theatre. It's an impressive career
to say the least.
Falls burst onto the theatre landscape while still in
college at the University of Illinois, when his production
of Michael Weller's Moonchildren transferred to Chicago's
St. Nicholas Theatre and earned Falls a Joseph Jefferson
Award for Best Director. After winning his second Jeff
Award for an adaptation of Steinbeck's Of Mice and Men,
Falls was launched into the artistic directorship of
Chicago's Wisdom Bridge, a legendary troupe in
Chicago's 1970's theatrical renaissance, where he held
court until taking over the reigns at the Goodman
in 1986.
In over 30 years as a nationally known theatre director,
Falls has collaborated with the biggest names in the
business. His vitae is dotted with luminaries like Arthur
Miller, Elton John, Horton Foote, Eric Bogosian, Peter
Sellars, Mary Zimmerman, Brian Dennehy, Liev Schreiber,
and Cherry Jones, among many others.
Falls was lauded as "Chicagoan of the Year" by Chicago
magazine in 2000, and has been elected to the American
Academy of Arts and Sciences. His contributions to the
arts have been singled out for praise by Chicago Mayor
Richard Daley, the National Endowment for the Arts, and
Senator Barack Obama.
This season, he tackles — for the second time —
one of his favorite plays: Conor McPherson's Shining City.
— Justin Waldman