Jack O'Brien (director)

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This article is about the theatre director and producer. For the humorist, please see Jack O'Brien.

Jack O'Brien is a producer, writer, lyricist, and Tony Award-winning theater director who presently serves as the Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre in San Diego, California.

O'Brien is equally at home with musicals (The Full Monty, Hairspray), contemporary dramas (The Piano Lesson), and the classics (Hamlet, Henry IV).

O'Brien has had his share of failure. In 1972, he wrote the lyrics and co-wrote the book for the ill-fated musical The Selling of the President, which closed after five performances.

As of December 2006, O'Brien is at work preparing Tom Stoppard's trilogy, The Coast of Utopia, for its New York City premiere.

[edit] Awards and nominations

2005 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, nominee)
2004 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (Henry IV, winner)
2004 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play (Henry IV, winner)
2003 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (Hairspray, winner)
2003 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (Hairspray, winner)
2001 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (The Full Monty, nominee)
2001 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (The Full Monty, nominee)
2001 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (The Invention of Love, nominee)
2001 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play (The Invention of Love, winner)
1992 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Play (Two Shakespearean Actors, nominee)
1992 Tony Award for Best Play (Two Trains Running, nominee)
1990 Tony Award for Best Play (The Piano Lesson, nominee)
1990 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding New Play (The Piano Lesson, winner)
1989 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Play (The Cocktail Hour, nominee)
1977 Tony Award for Best Direction of a Musical (Porgy and Bess, nominee)
1977 Drama Desk Award for Outstanding Director of a Musical (Porgy and Bess, nominee)