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Industry Star of the Month
	Lynne Meadow, Manhattan Theatre Club July 2, 2012 - For the past forty years, a remarkable visionary has been at the forefront of the Manhattan Theatre Club, one of the City’s renowned nonprofit theatre companies: Lynne Meadow, who just celebrated her anniversary with MTC as its artistic director. “I’ve had the chance to work with the greatest people,” she said. “New York is the place where the best and the brightest come here – lighting designers, crews, stagehands, actors – everybody is at the top of their game.” The Manhattan Theatre Club, whose mission is to showcase new work by contemporary writers, has had an extraordinary run under Meadow’s leadership. This season alone, Meadow has produced four productions on Broadway, all of which have received Tony nominations: Terrence McNally’s Master Class (Best Revival of a Play), David Ives’ Venus in Fur (Best Play, Best Actress – Nina Arianda, who also won), Margaret Edson’s Wit which Meadow directed (Best Revival of a Play, Best Actress – Cynthia Nixon), and David Auburn’s The Columnist (Best Actor in a Play – John Lithgow). Under Meadow’s artistic direction, Manhattan Theatre Club has garnered hundreds of awards and the artists nurtured by her, and the company have made MTC a world class theatre. Meadow has been MTC’s artistic director since 1972 and with Barry Grove, MTC’s executive producer and her producing partner of 37 years, she has accepted every major theatrical award on behalf of the company including Tonys, Obies, Lortels and Drama Desk Awards. Meadow has directed dozens of new plays both on and off Broadway. At a recent celebration of Meadow’s career at MTC, a friend showed her a letter she wrote during her first week on the job. In the letter, she said she hoped to create a place where artists feel like they’re home. “I’ve tried to be a magnet to attract people to New York,” she said. “I have had a blessed life having the chance [to do this job],” she said. For young people interested in careers in the theatre, Meadow suggests seeing as much as you can by taking advantage of student discounts and education outreach programs, like the one MTC runs. “You can learn an awful lot by seeing,” she said. Playwrights are at the heart of MTC, and when asked to pick a favorite production, it proved an impossible choice. “How could I choose between Terrence McNally and Donald Margulies and David Auburn [and so many others]?” she said. ‘We’ve worked with some of the greatest writers.” Meadow is also passionate about bringing new audiences to the theatre. “Going to the theatre is a fabulous life-enriching experience,” she said. “It only happens once, and you’re the only person seeing it in a particular way. It’s intimate experience with you and the actors and the show.” The past forty years have flown by for Meadow. “I lost track of time,” she said. “I was so involved. You don’t realize when you’re having a good time. It’s like when you’re reading a book, and you don’t realize you’ve missed your stop.” To watch a short film in celebration of Meadow’s anniversary, visit manhattantheatreclub.com.