Deanna Dunagan
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Deanna Dunagan is an Award winning Chicago based American actress. Although Dunagan has appeared on television and in films, she is most admired for her work as a stage actress.
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[edit] Early life and Education
Dunagan was born in Monahans, Texas. Her father was a Coca-Cola bottler and president of the Texas Historical Association. In an interview Dunagan said, "My heritage is a long line of Southern Baptist and Methodist preachers—who were all just frustrated actors."[1] Dunagan got a degree in music education and married young, but her marriage did not last long. Following her divorce, Dunagan's parents agreed to fund graduate studies at the Dallas Theater Center. While writing her Master's thesis Dunagan lived in Mexico and got engaged to a bullfighter. Dunagan never married the bullfighter, who moved to Spain, and went on to pursue her acting career in the United States.[2]
[edit] Career
Dunagan began her acting career performing in regional theaters such as the Asolo Theatre in Florida and the Actors Theatre of Louisville before trying her luck in New York City. She made her Broadway debut in the 1979 production of George Bernard Shaw's Man and Superman at Circle in the Square as an understudy for Ann Sachs. Sachs became ill at one point during the show's run and Dunagan filled in for her with great success. This exposure led to her to being signed with International Creative Management and helped forward her career.[3]
In 1981, Dunagan performed in the first national tour of Children of a Lesser God. While on this tour, Dunagan visited the city of Chicago for the first time and immidiately fell in love with the city. After the end of the tour, Dunagan moved to Chicago and has lived there ever since, performing in more than 30 theaters in the Chicago area. Her work on the Chicago stage has garnered her three Joseph Jefferson Awards and three After Dark Awards.[4]
Dunagan has also periodically worked in films including, The Naked Face, Running Scared, Men Don't Leave, Losing Isaiah, and Dimension. She has also appeared in more than ten made for television movies, in the tv mini-series A Will of Their Own and Amerika, and as a guest star on the television shows Prison Break, What About Joan, and Missing Persons.[5]
In 2007, Dunagan returned to Broadway in the Steppenwolf Theatre's transplant production of Tracy Letts' August: Osage County. For her performance, Dunagan won a Theatre World Award and a Drama Desk Award. She was also nominated for a Tony Award which she may potentially win in June 2008.[6]
[edit] Selected stage credits
| Show | Role | Theater | Year |
|---|---|---|---|
| Man and Superman | Understudy | Circle in the Square Theatre (Broadway) | 1979 |
| Sunset/Sunrise | Diane | Actors Theatre of Louisville (Louisville, KY) | 1980 |
| Children of a Lesser God | Performer | National Tour | 1981 |
| Stepping Out | Performer | Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 1988 |
| Still Waters | Performer | Victory Gardens Theater (Chicago, IL) | 1991 |
| Cariolanus | Performer | Next Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 1991 |
| Private Passage | Performer | Odyssey Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 1992 |
| The Song of Jacob Zulu | Performer | Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 1992 |
| Inspecting Carol | Performer | Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 1992 |
| A Touch of the Poet | Deborah Harford | Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 1996 |
| The Washington-Sarajevo Talks | Rhonda | Victory Gardens Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 1996 |
| Slaughterhouse-Five | Performer | Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 1996 |
| Cahoots | Gwendoline | Victory Gardens Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 2001 |
| The Glamour House | Trudi Stein | Victory Gardens Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 2001 |
| Butley | Edna Shaft | Writer's Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 2001 |
| Cat on a Hot Tin Roof | Performer | Apple Tree Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 2002 |
| A Lie of the Mind | Performer | American Theater Company (Chicago, IL) | 2002 |
| Wedding Band | Herman's Mother | Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 2003 |
| James Joyce's The Dead | Aunt Julia Morkan | Court Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 2003 |
| Bounce | Ensemble | Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 2003 |
| A Delicate Balance | Performer | Remy Bumppo (Chicago, IL) | 2004 |
| I Never Sang For My Father | Margaret | Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 2006 |
| The Best Man | Performer | Remy Bumppo (Chicago, IL) | 2006 |
| Ten Little Indians | Emily Brent | Drury Lane Oakbrook (Chicago, IL) | 2006 |
| The Chalk Garden | Mrs. St. Maugham | Northlight Theatre (Chicago, IL) | 2006 |
| August: Osage County | Violet Weston | Steppenwolf Theatre Company (Chicago, IL) | 2007 |
| August: Osage County | Violet Weston | Imperial Theatre (Broadway) | 2007 |
