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Bill Irwin was an original member of Kraken, a theatre company
directed by Herbert Blau, and was an original member of the
Pickle Family Circus of San Francisco, where he worked with
Larry Pisoni and Geoff Hoyle. He appeared as a guest with
the ODC Dance Company of San Francisco, which first produced
his original work. His own pieces, often developed with Doug
Skinner and Michael O'Conner, include Not Quite/New York,
The Courtroom and Regard of Flight (also seen
on PBS' Great Performances).
On Broadway, Bills' original work, Largely New York
received five Tony Award nominations and won Drama Desk, Outer
Critic Circle, New York Dance and Performance Awards. Bill
along with David Shiner, starred and choreographed the hit
Fool Moon. Bill also appeared with Steve Martin, Robin
Williams and F. Murray Abraham in Waiting For Godot
at Lincoln Center and Texts For Nothing directed by
Joe Chaikin at the Public Theatre and in George Wolfe's park
production of The Tempest. Other Broadway productions
include: Accidental Death Of An Anarchist and 5-6-7-8
DANCE!
In addition to appearing in Lincoln Center's production of
Waiting For Godot, Bill also appeared in Waiting
For Godot at the Seattle Repertory Theatre.
Bill has appeared on numerous television shows including
most recently, The Closing Ceremony Of The Summer Olympic
Games in Atlanta in which he starred, directed and choreographed;
Northern Exposure, Saturday Night Live, The
Tonight Show, The Cosby Show, HBO's Bette Midler: Mondo Beyondo,
PBS' Great Performances 20th Anniversary Special, Sesame Street
and Mary Chapin Carpenter's video, "Let Me Into Your Heart."
In 1983, Bill was awarded a National Endowment for the Arts
Choreographer's Fellowship, and in 1984 was named a Guggenheim
fellow and was awarded a five-year MacArthur Fellowship.
In 1997, Bill directed and starred in his adaptation of the
play Scapin at the Roundabout Theatre and in 1998 he directed
A Flea In Her Ear also at the Roundabout.
Bill's feature films include: John Turturro's Illuminata,
Scalpers with Andy Garcia, and Mike Hoffman's A Midsummer's
Night Dream with Michelle Pfeiffer, Kevin Klein, and Rupert
Everett. He can also be seen in My Blue Heaven, Scenes From A Mall, Popeye,
A New Life, Eight Men Out, Stepping Out, Hot Shots, and Silent
Tongue.
Last fall, Bill directed and performed his own adaptation
of Samuel Beckett's prose work Texts For Nothing at the Classic
Stage Company.
Bill recently starred opposite Jim Carrey in Universal Picture's
feature film The Grinch Who Stole Christmas, and can be seen
in the upcoming film Igby Goes Down.
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