February 17, 2011
By Staff Reporter
The Pulitzer-prize winning drama won four awards out of eight nominations, including three of the four main categories; Best Play, Best actress and Best Director
“I want to thank the Sisters of Charity for teaching me how to read and write, I want to thank the Irish Christian Brothers for throwing me out of high school,” said an elated Shanley said during his acceptance speech.
Broadway giant Cherry Jones won her second Tony for “Best Actress,” but Brian O’Byrne failed to secure his third “Best Actor,” gong, losing out to Bill Irwin for “Who’s afraid of Virginia Woolf?”
An emotional Doug Hughes was named “Best Director,” whilst Adriane Lenox won the “Best Featured actress,” award.
“It’s taken 24 hours for it to fully dawn on me,” said Hughes in an interview with the Echo.
“It’s something I’ve aspired to for a long time and for it to happen with this play, which involves so many dear friends, makes it even sweeter.”
He thought O’Byrne’s loss was no reflection on the quality of his performance.
“I think he deserved it, but I’ll tell you what he would tell you, that he was delighted to be nominated and he salutes Bill Irwin, whose performance was superb.”
Martin McDonagh’s “The Pillowman,” came away with just two awards from its six nominations.
Scott Pask won for “Best Scenic Design of a Play,” whilst Irish-American Brian McDevitt won the “Best Lighting,” award.
“Because this play was dangerous, and I think it would have caused quite a stir if it had won more awards,” said McDevitt, whose grandparents came from Sligo and Donegal.
“Not to take away from its brilliance, but I feel like there was so much hype surrounding Shanley’s “Doubt,” that the tide was certainly with them. But we’ve had a great life on Broadway so far.”
Of his own win, McDevitt said: “I’m absolutely thrilled – it’s really hard to describe in words. What we tried to do with the lighting was really subtle, and I’m delighted that people appreciated that. Just to be invited to do a Martin McDonagh play was a big enough honor, it doesn’t get better than this.”