Denver Center for the Performing Arts founder Donald Seawell was tickled Thursday to learn he will be the 11th recipient of the National Theatre Hall of Fame’s Founder’s Award. But while it marks the crowning achievement of his professional life, he says it is not the crowning achievement of his life.
“That would still be marrying Eugenia Rawls,” the 93-year-old, two-time Tony Award winner said of his wife of 59 years, a nationally recognized actress who died five years ago.
“But I am genuinely overwhelmed because I worked with so many of the wonderful people who are in the Hall of Fame,” said Seawell, who becomes the first Founder’s Award winner whose career was not based entirely in New York. “I never expected to join them, but I am delighted to be in their company.”
That company includes Henry Fonda, Noel Coward, Tallulah Bankhead, Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne – all of whom Seawell worked with.
“Tallulah was one of my first clients,” Seawell said of his early days as a lawyer. “Alfred and Lynn called me the son they never had, and I produced a lot of Noel’s plays.”
The National Theatre Hall of Fame honors lifetime achievement in the American theater, and Seawell’s achievements as a lawyer, producer, director and chairman span 60 years. His career as a Broadway and London producer included milestone productions of “Showboat,” “Our Town” and “Harvey,” many with legendary co-producer Roger Stevens.
“Roger and I once tried to count how many shows we had co-produced, and we came up with 65,” Seawell said. “But that was after a bottle of champagne, so we may have missed a few and doubled some others.”
Seawell also represented Helen Bonfils, a legendary theater figure and publisher of The Denver Post. “Miss Hel en” partnered with Seawell in producing many Broadway productions, but she brought Seawell to Denver for good in 1966 to help her fend off an attempted hostile takeover of her newspaper. He helped her run the paper and her Bonfils Theatre until her death in 1972.
In 1962, Seawell became the first producer to bring the Royal Shakespeare Company to America. He has since become the only American named to the RSC’s board of governors.
But Seawell’s enduring legacy will be his 1974 creation of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts with the proceeds from Bonfils’ estate. In 1979, he opened the Denver Center Theatre Company, which in 1998 won the Tony Award as the nation’s best regional theater company.
In 2000, Seawell brought the 10-play epic Trojan War cycle “Tantalus” to the DCTC with his own money, which some reports have put as high as $8 million. But it was worth it to him because, he said, “nothing in the theater has come along like this in 2,500 years.”
“It is the totality of his achievements that are being honored here,” said Denver Center director of publications Sylvie Drake. “He had boldness, and he had vision – no question about it.”
The Theatre Hall of Fame was originated in 1971. To be eligible, one must have a career spanning at least 25 years on Broadway and at least five major credits. Seawell will receive his award at a Jan. 30 ceremony in New York.
Theater critic John Moore can be reached at 303-820-1056 or jmoore@denverpost.com.
