Antoon, A. J. (Alfred Joseph), 1944-1992

A.J. Antoon was an award-winning stage director who was nominated fortwo Tony awards in 1973.

Antoon was a graduate of Boston College and attended the Yale School of Drama. He made his professional directorial debut in 1971 with STORY THEATRE. In 1973 he won several theater awards including a Tony for THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON. Antoon directed seven major Broadway plays and musicals during his twenty-year career, including MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE RINK, THE GOOD DOCTOR, and THE ART OF DINING. A. J. Antoon died in New York on January 22, 1992.

From the description of A. J. Antoon papers, video and sound recordings, 1961-1991. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122534497

A.J. Antoon was an award-winning stage director who was nominated for two Tony awards in 1973.

Antoon was a graduate of Boston College and attended the Yale School of Drama. He made his professional directorial debut in 1971 with STORY THEATRE. In 1973 he won several theater awards including the Tony for THAT CHAMPIONSHIP SEASON. Antoon directed seven major Broadway plays and musicals during his twenty-year career, including MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING, THE RINK, THE GOOD DOCTOR, and THE ART OF DINING. A. J. Antoon died in New York on January 22, 1992.

From the description of A. J. Antoon papers, 1961-1991. (New York Public Library). WorldCat record id: 122687150

Alfred Joseph Antoon, Jr. (1944-1992) was an award-winning stage director who, at the young age of twenty-seven, was nominated for a Tony Award for two plays in the same year.

A.J. (as he liked to be called) was born December 7, 1944 in Methuen, Massachusetts and became active in the theater arts in high school . After high school, Antoon studied for the priesthood at Shadowbrook Jesuit Seminary in Lenox, Massachusetts and also became a student at Boston College. He earned his bachelor's degree from Boston College in 1968. Antoon was accepted to the Yale School of Drama but left after one-and-a-half years to work in New York.

Antoon's professional directing career began in 1971 with Story Theatre, adaptations of Chekhov and Tolstoy at St. Clement's Church Theatre in New York. That same year he began his association with Joseph Papp and the New York Shakespeare Festival (NYSF). Antoon had presented an original play written by Yale friend Robert Montgomery to Papp while at Yale. Papp liked it and offered A.J. the director's job. Subject to Fits opened February 14, 1971 at the Public Theater and became a hit. It later moved to London and was staged by the Royal Shakespeare Company. Before 1971 was over, Antoon also had directing success with the NYSF production of Shakespeare's Cymbeline.

The year 1973 was Antoon's most award-winning as a director. In that year he was nominated for a Tony Award for both Much Ado About Nothing and That Championship Season . He won the Tony for That Championship Season, and was also given the Drama Desk Award and the Drama Critics Circle Award. Much Ado About Nothing was later adapted for television and ran on CBS as a three-hour special. To cap the year, Antoon received an Honorary Doctorate from his alma mater Boston College .

Antoon went on to direct seventeen major plays and musicals, seven of which were Broadway productions. The following are highlights of his professional career that spanned twenty years:

From the guide to the A. J. Antoon papers, 1961-1991, (The New York Public Library. Billy Rose Theatre Division.)