Kjetil Bang-Hansen has been nominated as outstanding director for his presentation of Henrik Ibsen's play, "An Enemy of the People," at the Shakespeare Theatre Company in Washington, D.C., in the fall of 2006.
4/12/2007 :: Kjetil Bang-Hansen made his Shakespeare Theatre Company debut directing Ibsen's play. He is the former artistic director of Den Nationale Scene, one of Norway’s three national theaters, and where Ibsen served as writer-in-residence from 1851 to 1857.
Timian Alsaker was nominated for outstanding set design. 8 other nominations include outstanding lead actor, three nods for supporting actor, supporting actress, sound design, lighting design, and outstanding resident play.
The 23rd Annual Helen Hayes Awards will be presented at 8 p.m. on Monday, April 16, at the The Warner Theatre in Washington, D.C.
The Helen Hayes Awards
Founded in 1983, the Helen Hayes Awards commemorates Washington native and “First Lady of the American Theatre,” Helen Hayes, whose legendary work continue to inspire Washington artists. Helen Hayes began her lifelong love affair with theatre at the age of five after seeing her first play at The National Theatre. Eighty years later, she presided over the inaugural presentation of her namesake awards on the same stage of The National, which is operated by the non-profit National Theatre Corporation and managed by The Shubert Organization.
An Enemy of the People
Spurred by his maddening experiences with censorship, Ibsen wrote An Enemy of the People to depict how society deliberately and ruthlessly ostracizes its truth-tellers. When Dr. Stockmann discovers that his city’s baths are contaminated, he immediately sets out to warn his fellow citizens. Terrified of losing the baths’ tourist dollars, the citizens refuse to accept Dr. Stockmann’s claims. Ibsen captures the courage of one man fighting the tyranny of the majority in a play that remains inescapably modern.