Jack O'Brien and George C. Wolfe to Receive Special Tony Awards for Lifetime Achievement

The director Jack O’Brien and the writer, director and producer George C. Wolfe will each receive the 2024 Special Tony Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Theatre.

A Tony Award-winning director for All My Sons, Carousel and The Front Page, O’Brien was most recently nominated for a Tony Award for directing Shucked. His other Tony-nominated Broadway directorial credits are Dirty Rotten Scoundrels, The Invention of Love, The Full Monty, Two Shakespearean Actors and Porgy and Bess.

Wolfe has won five Tony Awards, including Best Direction of a Play for the original 1993 Broadway production of Angels in America: Millennium Approaches and Best Direction of a Musical for Bring in 'da Noise, Bring in 'da Funk. Most recently, he directed the films Ma Rainey’s Black Bottom and Rustin. Wolfe is also the Chief Creative Officer of the Center for Civil and Human Rights and served on The President's Committee for the Arts and The Humanities.

“Honoring these two gentlemen for their outstanding achievements and contributions to theater is not only a recognition of their innate talent and dedication, but to a lifetime of brilliant work,” said Jason Laks, interim president of The Broadway League. "With credits such as Hairspray and The Invention of Love, Jack O’Brien has showcased astounding diversity, skill and passion throughout his esteemed career. In his role as Artistic Director of the Old Globe Theatre for 25 years, he also leaves a lasting legacy of strengthening the relationship between the commercial and nonprofit worlds."

“Both of our honorees have shown a true commitment to the craft that has led to remarkable success across their deeply applauded breadth of work,” said Heather Hitchens, the president and CEO of the American Theatre Wing.

In a joint statement, Mia Farrow and Patti LuPone congratulated O'Brien. "We congratulate Jack on this Lifetime Achievement Award and, more importantly, on the lifetime of achievements that make him such a worthy honoree. As we’re spending the rest of the year working with him on The Roommate—his 30th Broadway production—we just hope it doesn’t go to his head."

As previously reported, Special Tony Awards will also be presented to comedian Alex Edelman, sound designer Abe Jacob and hair and wig designer Nikiya Mathis.