David Hawkanson, ’69, received
the 2004 Lucia R. Briggs Distinguished Achievement Award, which recognizes alumni
of more than 15 years for outstanding contributions to and achievements in
a career field.
In 2004 Hawkanson was completing his first year as executive director of Chicago's Steppenwolf Theatre, a post that comes as the culmination of a distinguished 30-year professional career that included six years as managing director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis. Previous to that, he was managing director at the Hartford Stage Company for eight years, during which time the Connecticut theatre company received a special Tony Award for outstanding achievement in regional theatre. He had earlier been managing director of the Arizona Theater Company and held managerial positions with the American Conservatory Theater and, from 1970-74, with the Guthrie. Before joining Steppenwolf, he maintained a management consulting practice with clients in Arizona, Connecticut, Oregon, Minnesota, New Mexico, and Illinois. He has been an artistic advisor to the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, a program committee member for the National Arts Stabilization Fund, and a panelist and advisor to both the Ford Foundation’s Working Capital Fund and the Minneapolis Foundation's Working Capital Reserve Fund, as well as many major national foundations and federal and state arts organizations. In addition, he is a former senior staff member at the National Endowment for the Arts and a former chairman and panelist for the theatre program of the NEA. Other affiliations have included serving as officer and board member of the Alliance for Arts Advocates, Theater Trustees of America, the Theatre Communications Group, Minnesota Citizens for the Arts, New York Stage and Film, and the American Arts Alliance.
Lawrence Today magazine, Fall 2004