F. Murray Abraham To Be Honored at Shakespeare Theatre’s Annual Gala

The Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) has selected Academy Award winner F. Murray Abraham as the 2012 recipient of The William Shakespeare Award for Classical Theatre, otherwise known as the Will Award, and will be honoring him with the Will at the Harman Center for the Arts Annual Gala on Monday, October 15, 2012.

“Mr. Abraham is the embodiment of what every classical actor strives for: a model representative of the arts who has garnered critical acclaim on stage, film and television,’ said Artistic Director Michael Kahn of the selection.

Abraham won the Academy Award for Best Actor for his role as Antonio Salieri in Amadeus and has appeared in numerous other feature films including All The President’s MenScarfaceMighty Aphrodite and Finding Forrester.  Murray has also starred in many Shakespearean productions, as well as classic plays by Samuel Beckett, Gilbert and Sullivan and Chekhov with Broadway credits to include MauritiusTriumph of LoveA Month in the CountryAngels in America: PerestroikaAngels in America: Millennium Approaches and Macbeth.

He joins the ranks of Annette Bening, Sir Ian McKellen, Kevin Spacey, Jeremy Irons, Dame Judi Dench, Fiona Shaw, Ralph Fiennes, Sir Anthony Hopkins, Dame Maggie Smith, Hal Holbrook, Patrick Stewart, Sam Waterston, Lynn Redgrave, Christopher Walken, Morgan Freeman, Mel Gibson, Kenneth Branagh, Christopher Plummer, Kevin Kline, the late Joseph Papp and Shakespeare Theatre Company Artistic Director Michael Kahn with this annual honor, which each year recognizes an artist who has made a significant contribution to classical theatre in America.