Gerald Gutierrez (February 3, 1950 – December 29, 2003) was an American

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as the Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

-winning

stage director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

. He was born and died in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn () is a borough of New York City, coextensive with Kings County, in the U.S. state of New York. Kings County is the most populous county in the State of New York, and the second-most densely populated county in the United States, be ...

Career

Gutierrez was a graduate of Midwood High School in

, and then the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Established in 1905, the school trains about 850 undergraduate and graduate students in dance, drama, and music. It is widely regarded as one of the most elit ...

and initially worked as a performer. He then started directing Off-Broadway, often at

Playwrights Horizons Playwrights Horizons is a not-for-profit Off-Broadway theater located in New York City dedicated to the support and development of contemporary American playwrights, composers, and lyricists, and to the production of their new work. Under the ...

. He directed, among others, the following plays at

Lincoln Center Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts (also simply known as Lincoln Center) is a complex of buildings in the Lincoln Square neighborhood on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. It has thirty indoor and outdoor facilities and is host to 5 milli ...

: ''

The Most Happy Fella ''The Most Happy Fella'' is a 1956 musical with a book, music, and lyrics by Frank Loesser. The story, about a romance between an older man and younger woman, is based on the 1924 play '' They Knew What They Wanted'' by Sidney Howard. The show i ...

'' (1992), ''

The Heiress ''The Heiress'' is a 1949 American romantic drama film directed and produced by William Wyler, from a screenplay written by Ruth and Augustus Goetz, adapted from their 1947 stage play of the same title, which was itself adapted from Henry Jame ...

'' (1995), '' A Delicate Balance'' (1996), and '' Dinner at Eight'' (2002). His work with ''The Heiress'' and ''A Delicate Balance'' was said to be (by ''Playbill'') as "near perfect representations of those plays"."Gerald Gutierrez, 53; Broadway Director Won 2 Tony Awards"
''Los Angeles Times'', December 31, 2003.Buckley, Michael

theatermania.com, December 30, 2003. Of ''The Heiress'', the ''Variety'' reviewer wrote: "Although Gerald Gutierrez’s direction can’t be undervalued, ''The Heiress'' is not by any stretch “director’s theater.”... Under Gutierrez’s sure hand, the exceptional cast never falters." He directed the

Wendy Wasserstein Wendy Wasserstein (October 18, 1950 – January 30, 2006) was an American playwright. She was an Andrew Dickson White Professor-at-Large at Cornell University. She received the Tony Award for Best Play and the Pulitzer Prize for Drama in 1989 ...

play ''Isn't It Romantic'' in 1983. Gutierrez and Wasserstein were good friends. He was said (by ''The New York Times'') to have "an obsession with detail that made each production tick like a perfectly calibrated clock", and to do "ferocious" research.

André Bishop André Bishop (born November 9, 1948) is an American theatrical producer, and Artistic Director and Producing Artistic Director, of Lincoln Center Theater. He has produced over 80 Broadway plays and musicals and has won numerous Tony Awards. E ...

, a close friend of Gutierrez, said "Of all the directors I know, he was one who combined a scrupulous sense of reality with enormous flair and style."

Death

Gutierrez died in his sleep of respiratory failure.

Awards and nominations

Gutierrez was nominated for the 1994 Tony Award, Director of a Play for ''Abe Lincoln in Illinois''."'Abe Lincoln in Illinois' Broadway"
Playbill, retrieved September 22, 2017 He won the 1995 Tony Award, Director of a Play for ''The Heiress'' and the 1996 Tony Award, Director of a Play for ''A Delicate Balance''."Gutierrez Broadway"
Playbill, retrieved September 22, 2017

References

External links

* * 1950 births 2003 deaths American theatre directors Drama Desk Award winners Tony Award winners {{theat-bio-stub