Richard and Sharon Jenkins to Receive Trinity Rep’s Pell Award
Thursday, April 10, 2014
Trinity Rep has announced that Academy-award nominated film and stage actor Richard Jenkins and his director/choreographer wife, Sharon, will be honored with the 2014 Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts. The theater also announced that nationally known dance educator and choreographer Mary Paula Hunter would receive the 2014 Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts. The 18th annual Pell Awards will be held on Monday, June 9, 2014 at Trinity Rep with a reception to follow next door at the Providence Public Library.
Individual tickets to the full event are $500; a limited number of individual tickets to the ceremony and post-show reception are $250, and corporate sponsorships are available. For more information or to purchase tickets, contact Trinity Rep at (401) 453-9237 or visit http://www.trinityrep.com. Proceeds from ticket sales benefit Trinity Rep’s artistic programs.
Richard and Sharon Jenkins
Richard Jenkins was a Trinity Rep acting company member for 14 seasons, starting in 1970. He served as artistic director for four seasons (1990-1994) and directed numerous productions during that time. Richard has appeared in over 60 feature films, and has been nominated for three Screen Actors Guild Awards, two Independent Spirit Awards, a Critics Choice Award, a Gotham Award, and won a Satellite Award as well as an Academy Award nomination for his performance in The Visitor. In 2014, he can be seen in the film God’s Pocket with Philip Seymour Hoffman and Trinity Rep’s own Peter Gerety, as well as appearing opposite Frances McDormand in the HBO miniseries Olive Kitteridge.
GET THE LATEST BREAKING NEWS HERE -- SIGN UP FOR GOLOCAL FREE DAILY EBLASTFellow 2014 Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts honoree Sharon Jenkins has been a choreographer at Trinity Rep for over 40 years, where she has worked with artistic directors Adrian Hall, Amanda Dehnert, Oskar Eustis, and Curt Columbus. She has choreographed The Music Man, Annie, West Side Story, The Fantasticks, The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Cabaret, and Camelot. Sharon spent 20 years as the dance director at Hope Arts Magnet School in Providence, 15 years as a dance specialist with the RI State Council on the Arts, 10 years as a dancer with RI Dance Rep, and 10 years as choreographer for The Arabella Project. In addition to her work at Trinity Rep, Mrs. Jenkins has worked at Long Wharf Theatre, Arena Stage, Hartford Stage, Center Stage, South Coast Rep and was the choreographer for Paramount Pictures feature School Ties.
The husband and wife team also co-directed the recent production of Oliver! at Trinity.
Honoring an impactful couple
Richard L. Bready Artistic Director Curt Columbus said that he is thrilled to award this year's Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Pell Award the couple.
“As we celebrate our 50th Anniversary season, it was especially important to all of us to honor Richard and Sharon Jenkins for their combined body of work. They have been transformational figures in the history of Trinity Rep. Their work, both onstage and off, has influenced how audiences have looked at theater; from Shakespeare to American classics to new work to musicals, they both have made theater that is immediate, beautiful, and bold. Their commitment to community and place make them exceptional recipients in the spirit of the great Senator Claiborne Pell."
Mary Paula Hunter
2014 Charles Sullivan Award for Distinguished Service in the Arts honoree Mary Paula Hunter is a well known educator, performance artist and choreographer. Her work is often text-based and always quirky, emotional, and rooted in her own neuroses. Dance Magazine's, Julinda Lewis wrote that Hunter's works " make you feel as if you’ve crossed into a time zone where human motion follows laws you’ve never learned and may never understand." Hunter is the artistic director of JUMP!, where she says she found her calling in the training of young dance artists. JUMP!’s original mission, to develop choreographic talent, has expanded and the company now produces a full season of innovative dance work, produced by its members. Hunter, a long-time choreographer and performer with a M.F.A. in Dance from the University of Michigan, trains dancers at The East Side Ballet Studio and has taught dance at many colleges including Holy Cross, Hamilton College, RISD, and Brown. She curated the New York summer Dance Festival Summer in the Square, and continues to perform as a solo artist.
The Pell Awards
The Pell Awards honor Senator Claiborne Pell and recognize artistic excellence in Rhode Island and the New England region as well as on the national level. Throughout his life, Senator Pell worked to support the arts and provide new opportunities for artists. He sponsored the landmark legislation that established the National Endowments for the Arts and Humanities in 1965, and chaired the Senate Education and Arts subcommittee.
The theater's annual gala event will be co-chaired by Clay Pell and Michelle Kwan alongside Barbara and Larry Schoenfeld. Mrs. Nuala Pell will serve as the event’s honorary chair.
Past Honorees
Previous Pell Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts honorees include Jane Alexander, Kate Burton, Ruby Dee and Ossie Davis, Viola Davis, Olympia Dukakis, Adrian Hall, Arthur Miller, Liza Minnelli, Toni Morrison, Robert Redford, Chita Rivera, Jason Robards, Maurice Sendak, Beverly Sills, Stephen Sondheim and Kevin Spacey. Past honorees for the Pell Award for Distinguished Achievement in the Arts include John Krasinski, Amy Morton and Trinity Rep's Resident Acting Company.
Related Slideshow: Richard Jenkins Returns to RI
Check out this chronology of Jenkins' career.
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