The Guthrie Theater was one of the first major resident theaters to be established in the United States. It was founded by Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler, who wanted to bring a professional theater company with a classical repertoire to a relatively small American city. Minneapolis was chosen to be the home for Guthrie’s company, which has supported and inspired many artists in Minnesota and played a major role in developing the Twin Cities’ theater scene.
Before the 1960s, the Twin Cities was a quiet place when it came to theater. Certainly, there were theaters, such as the Old Log Theater and Theater in the Round Players, but the scale of the local scene was relatively small.
In 1959, Tyrone Guthrie, Oliver Rea, and Peter Zeisler had grown tired of mainstream theater. Guthrie stated that there were “too many actors in New York and London, and not enough elsewhere.” Inspired to counteract the poor distribution of professional theaters across the world, the three men devised to bring a professional, residential theater company to a smaller city.
On September 30, 1959, an advertisement in the New York Times sought out cities interested in having a resident theater. Seven cities responded, and the three men visited each of them. Of those, Minneapolis gained the most interest from Guthrie. It was attractive to Guthrie because it was large enough to support a theater financially but small enough that it would be the most prominent venue in town.
The T. B Walker Foundation donated land next to the Walker Art Center at 725 Vineland Place for the new theater to be built, and the state of Minnesota raised over $2.2 million for the project. The building was designed by architect Ralph Rapson, and construction began in the summer of 1960.
On May 7, 1963, the Guthrie Theater opened with a production of Hamlet directed by Guthrie himself, who had been knighted two years earlier. Minnesotans were eager to see their new theater company—so much so that their first season started with 22,000 season ticket holders. In response, the Guthrie lengthened its seasons by adding shows and extending runs.
Although the Guthrie was becoming a major success story, the company needed room to grow. Originally, its building was supposed to have more offices, larger set shops, and rehearsal spaces. In the late 1960s, the Walker Art Center was rebuilt, allowing the Guthrie to add those areas. There was still a need, however, for one crucial amenity: a second stage.
At Vineland Place, the Guthrie only had one stage: a 1,441-seat thrust. Many renowned theaters, including the National Theatre in London, had multiple stages that allowed a company to mount a variety of shows at the same time. Where the Guthrie’s thrust stage (one open to the audience on three sides) was meant for playing large-scale classics, a second stage could be used to put on more contemporary, smaller-scale plays.
The Guthrie made multiple attempts to establish a second stage. Such spaces were the Crawford Livingston stage, The Other Place, Guthrie 2, and Guthrie Lab. Though most of these lasted for only a few seasons, they provided a venue for other local theater companies to perform and gain recognition from the Twin Cities community.
As it grew in the 1990s, the company looked towards another expansion. By then, however, it had outgrown Vineland Place, so the company moved to downtown Minneapolis by the Mississippi River. The new Guthrie Theater, designed by Jean Nouvel, came equipped with three performance spaces (one modeled after the stage in the original Guthrie), a larger set and costume shops, rehearsal spaces, and offices. The project was completed in 2006 at a total cost of $125 million.
The Guthrie Theater continues to thrive in its new location. As it did at Vineland Place, the new Guthrie not only performs but also educates and trains young actors. It also partners with the University of Minnesota’s BFA acting program and hosts workshops and events for theater companies across the state.
As of 2019, the Guthrie has had eight artistic directors: Sir Tyrone Guthrie (1963-1966), Douglas Campbell (1966–1967), Michael Langham (1971–1977), Alvin Epstein (1978–1980), Liviu Ciulei (1980–1985), Garland Wright (1986–1995), Joe Dowling (1995–2015), and Joseph Haj (2015–present)