Fast Facts: 2006 Regional Tony Winner Intiman Theatre

On May 16, The Intiman Theatre became the 31st theater to pick up the Regional Theater Tony Award. In recent years, the theater hosted the world premiere of The Light in the Piazza, currently running on Broadway, and has had its Artistic Director, Bartlett Sher, rise in stature in New York nominated for a Tony last year for his direction of Piazza and this year for his work on Awake and Sing!, among other accomplishments. Yet many people still don't know about the Intiman. With that in mind, Broadway.com offers a handy guide to answer some possible questions our readers may have about this newly minted Tony winner.

Q: Where is the Intiman Theatre?
A: The Intiman Theatre is located at 201 Mercer Street in Seattle, Washington. Part of the Seattle Center campus, Intiman is located in between the Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Seattle Repertory Theatre. All of them are in the booming Queen Anne neighborhood so named for Seattle's largest hill.

Q: Does the theater have more than one performance space?
A: The Intiman has only one real theater, which seats 466. The complex is also home to a 50' x 50' black box rehearsal space, The Studio.

Q: When was the Intiman Theatre established?
A: The theater was founded in 1972 by Margaret Booker, who became its first artistic director. Booker first studied theatre as a Fulbright Lecturer in Sweden, and later returned to Stockholm at the invitation of the Royal Dramatic Theatre to study with Ingmar Berman and the late Alf Sjoberg.

Q: Why the name Intiman?
A: Booker, who had just come from Sweden, named the theater after a playhouse started by playwright August Strindberg in Stockholm, Sweden. The word translated means "the intimate."

Q: Are there any well-known actors who began their careers at the theater?
Yes, among them film actor Brendan Fraser, Emmy-winning Will & Grace star Debra Messing and two-time Emmy winner Jean Smart. Fraser was in the apprenticeship acting program there and even worked in the theater's box office. Soon after graduate school, Messing appeared at the Intiman as Cecily in The Importance of Being Earnest. In the mid-1970s, Smart was part of the organization's first company of resident actors.

Q: Does the Intiman produce only new works, just old works or both?
A: Both. Promotional materials profess the Intiman is "a home for vigorous, bold and emotionally rich approaches to the classics" and "the starting point for new work created by some of our best writers and artists."

Q: Is there anything famous that premiered there? A: Yes, most notably Robert Schenkkan's Pulitzer Prize-winning The Kentucky Cycle and the Craig Lucas/Adam Guettel musical The Light in the Piazza, currently playing on Broadway.

Q: Who runs the Intiman? A: Sher and Managing Director Laura Penn. Sher has been Artistic Director of the Intiman since 2001, frequently helming productions at the space and also helping launch the American Cycle a five year program designed to engage the Seattle community in discussions about select American stories. Penn became the theater's Managing Director in 1994 and has been the driving force behind numerous educational programs and community collaborations.

Q: What is at the Intiman right now?
Currently the company is gearing up for a production of Richard III, directed by Sher and scheduled to run June 9 through July 15.