Ian MacNeil (born 1960) is a British

scenic design Scenic design (also known as scenography, stage design, or set design) is the creation of theatrical, as well as film or television scenery. Scenic designers come from a variety of artistic backgrounds, but in recent years, are mostly train ...

er. He won the 1994 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Set Design for ''

An Inspector Calls ''An Inspector Calls'' is a play written by English dramatist J. B. Priestley, first performed in the Soviet Union in 1945 and at the New Theatre in London the following year. It is one of Priestley's best-known works for the stage and is co ...

'' and the 2009 Tony Award for Best Scenic Design of a Musical for ''

Billy Elliot The Musical ''Billy Elliot: The Musical'' is a coming-of-age stage musical based on the 2000 film of the same name. The music is by Elton John, and the book and lyrics are by Lee Hall, who wrote the film's screenplay. The plot revolves around Billy, a ...

''.

Early life and career

The son of

news anchor A news presenter – also known as a newsreader, newscaster (short for "news broadcaster"), anchorman or anchorwoman, news anchor or simply an anchor – is a person who presents news during a news program on TV, radio or the Internet. ...

and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

Robert MacNeil Robert Breckenridge Ware MacNeil, OC (born January 19, 1931) is a Canadian-American journalist and writer. He is a retired television news anchor who partnered with Jim Lehrer to create '' The MacNeil/Lehrer Report'' in 1975. Early life and ...

, he became interested in design at an early age, playing with toy theaters and creating puppet shows with his sister in their yard. "I still remember the pleasure I took in creating those little worlds - complete environments with characters I could manipulate," he recalled in a 1995 interview. MacNeil graduated from Trinity College, Hartford, Connecticut in 1980 and studied at the Croydon School of Art PBS.org interview
/ref> and later with Ming Cho Lee in

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the most densely populated major city in the U ...

.''New York Times'' interview, May 5, 1994
/ref> He spent a decade designing productions in

Birmingham Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the We ...

, Worcester,

York York is a cathedral city with Roman Britain, Roman origins, sited at the confluence of the rivers River Ouse, Yorkshire, Ouse and River Foss, Foss in North Yorkshire, England. It is the historic county town of Yorkshire. The city has many hist ...

, and

Manchester Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

before moving to

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, where he made his

West End West End most commonly refers to: * West End of London, an area of central London, England * West End theatre, a popular term for mainstream professional theatre staged in the large theatres of London, England West End may also refer to: Pl ...

debut with '' Death and the Maiden'' in 1991. MacNeil has designed for many London venues, including the National Theatre, the

English National Opera English National Opera (ENO) is an opera company based in London, resident at the London Coliseum in St Martin's Lane. It is one of the two principal opera companies in London, along with The Royal Opera. ENO's productions are sung in Englis ...

, the

Almeida Theatre The Almeida Theatre, opened in 1980, is a 325-seat producing house with an international reputation, which takes its name from the street on which it is located, off Upper Street, in the London Borough of Islington. The theatre produces a di ...

, the

Young Vic The Young Vic Theatre is a performing arts venue located on The Cut, near the South Bank, in the London Borough of Lambeth. The Young Vic was established by Frank Dunlop in 1970. Kwame Kwei-Armah has been Artistic Director since February 20 ...

, the

Lyric Hammersmith The Lyric Theatre, also known as the Lyric Hammersmith, is a theatre on Lyric Square, off King Street, Hammersmith, London.

, the

Barbican Theatre The Barbican Centre is a performing arts centre in the Barbican Estate of the City of London and the largest of its kind in Europe. The centre hosts classical and contemporary music concerts, theatre performances, film screenings and art exh ...

, and the

Royal Court Theatre The Royal Court Theatre, at different times known as the Court Theatre, the New Chelsea Theatre, and the Belgravia Theatre, is a West End theatre#London's non-commercial theatres, non-commercial West End theatre in Sloane Square, in the Royal ...

. He has won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best Set Design twice, for ''An Inspector Calls'' and '' Ariodante''. In 1999, MacNeil staged the international tour of the

Pet Shop Boys The Pet Shop Boys are an English synth-pop duo formed in London in 1981. Consisting of primary vocalist Neil Tennant and keyboardist Chris Lowe, they have sold more than 50 million records worldwide, and were listed as the most successful duo ...

promoting the release of their album ''

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''.

Personal life

MacNeil is openly gay. He claims he was aware of his sexual identity by the age of five, but never discussed his feelings with his parents, who were divorced, or the stepmother who raised him. He was twenty when he sent his father a letter revealing his secret. The elder MacNeil was not especially surprised and eventually very supportive. In 1993, Robert MacNeil spoke publicly about his son's homosexuality at the

National Lesbian and Gay Journalists Association NLGJA: The Association of LGBTQ Journalists, is an American professional association dedicated to unbiased coverage of LGBTQ issues in the media. It is based in Washington, D.C., and the membership consists primarily of journalists, students, edu ...

convention, and in a 1994 episode of '' The MacNeil/Lehrer NewsHour'', the two discussed their relationship. "It's terribly important that a public figure say I love my gay son," the younger MacNeil has said. "It needs to be within the sphere of what's everyday and ordinary, and not be gothic." MacNeil and director

Stephen Daldry Stephen David Daldry CBE (born 2 May 1960) is an English director and producer of film, theatre, and television. He has won three Olivier Awards for his work in the West End and three Tony Awards for his work on Broadway. He has received thr ...

were involved in a relationship for 13 years. They met at an outdoor production of ''Alice in Wonderland'' in

Lancaster Lancaster may refer to: Lands and titles *The County Palatine of Lancaster, a synonym for Lancashire *Duchy of Lancaster, one of only two British royal duchies *Duke of Lancaster *Earl of Lancaster *House of Lancaster, a British royal dynasty ...

in 1988 and, after seeing each other sporadically, Daldry decided he wanted to make a commitment. MacNeil was more reticent, but eventually the two settled in a

bedsit A bedsit, bedsitter, or bed-sitting room is a form of accommodation common in some parts of the United Kingdom which consists of a single room per occupant with all occupants typically sharing a bathroom. Bedsits are included in a legal category ...

in Camberwell and began collaborating on theatrical productions.Ian MacNeil at the Internet Broadway Database
/ref>

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Macneil, Ian British scenic designers Tony Award winners Drama Desk Award winners Laurence Olivier Award winners 1960 births Living people Gay artists