Guthrie honors Paul Tazewell, whose theater roots shaped an Oscar-winning career
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The Guthrie Theater will honor award-winning costume designer Paul Tazewell Friday night with its Distinguished Artist Award as Pride celebrations take place across Minnesota.
Tazewell worked on costume design at the Guthrie from 1995 to 2008 and has gone on to become one of the most celebrated designers in theater and film.
In 2016, he won a Tony Award for his costume design for the hit musical “Hamilton.” More recently, he designed costumes for “West Side Story” and won the Academy Award last year for costume design in the film adaptation of “Wicked.”
With that win, Tazewell became the first Black man and the first openly gay man to win the Oscar for costume design.
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Tazewell told MPR News that the Guthrie was his “creative home,” adding that his experience in theater shaped his career.
“I’m so pleased that my education and the way I developed was through theater because of its intimacy,” Tazewell said. “I’m able to carry that into my work when I am designing for film or when I am designing for television. I have a fuller, richer point of view on how to tell stories.”
He also spoke about how his identity as a gay Black man shapes his work.
“I choose to carry my authenticity into my creative work, because I think that it helps to keep my voice original,” said Tazewell. “I’m so grateful to have arrived at a place where I have fallen in love with who I am, and I can share that with other people.”
Tazewell will accept the award as part of the Guthrie’s second annual Fanfare celebration.
