Tony-Winning Broadway Director Daniel Sullivan Announces Retirement After 55-Year Career; Jonathan Kent Steps In For Upcoming ‘Montauk’

Daniel Sullivan, the Tony-winning Broadway director of Proof, The Heidi Chronicles, Glengarry Glen Ross and numerous other acclaimed productions, has announced his retirement after a 55-year career in the theater.

The unexpected announcement – Sullivan was scheduled to direct next spring’s Manhattan Theatre Club production of David Hare’s Montauk starring Laura Linney – was made by MTC today. The non-profit theater company also announced that British theater and opera director Jonathan Kent will step in to direct the much-anticipated world premiere production.

“It has been a privilege to bring stories to life alongside the most brilliant artists in the theatre, but I feel it’s time for me to step into a well-earned retirement,” Sullivan said in a statement. “I am proudly passing the directorial honors of David Hare’s new play to Jonathan Kent. He is a visionary of immense talent, and I have absolutely no doubt he will do a masterful job bringing this extraordinary new work to life.”

No specific reason for the retirement’s timing was announced.

Lynne Meadow, MTC’s longtime artistic director who stepped down from the role last year, said, “There is no director with whom I have worked more closely than the great Dan Sullivan. Our collaborations and deep friendship for over 25 years have been among the greatest joys, honors and blessings in my five-decade role as MTC’s Artistic Director. In addition to his many exquisite shows for our company, he has been and will continue to be a special advisor. And his brilliant world premiere productions will endure as legends of the American theatre. We are forever grateful.”

Sullivan has directed 20 shows for MTC, both for Broadway and Off Broadway. He won the Tony Award in 2001 for directing David Auburn’s Pulitzer- and Tony Award-winning play Proof, as well as such acclaimed MTC productions as Donald Margulies’ Sight Unseen and Time Stands Still; David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning Rabbit Hole and Good People; Lillian Hellman’s The Little Foxes; and Auburn’s Summer, 1976. He also served as MTC’s Interim Artistic Director during Meadow’s 2007-08 sabbatical.

Sullivan’s other Broadway credits include I’m Not Rappaport; The Heidi Chronicles; Conversations with My Father; The Sisters Rosensweig; Ah, Wilderness!; A Moon for the Misbegotten; Morning’s at Seven; Julius Caesar; The Merchant of Venice; and Glengarry Glen Ross.

Among Sullivan’s Off Broadway credits was Hare’s Stuff Happens for the Public Theater in 2006. The play used actual words from members of the Bush and Blair administrations regarding the Iraq War.

“One of the most unforgettable nights I have had was when Dan Sullivan’s forensic production of Stuff Happens electrified the Delacorte Theater in Central Park after a lively run downtown,” Hare said today. “The way Dan staged the process leading up to the Iraq war created theatre as civic forum in a way I have rarely seen.”

Hare added that “it’s a sadness for me that Dan is retiring,” but that “no-one could step into his huge shoes better than Jonathan Kent.”

“Almost thirty years ago,” Hare said, “Jonathan and I started collaborating on plays by Pirandello, Chekhov, Ibsen and Brecht. His all-day celebration of Young Chekhov, with stunning productions of Platonov, Ivanov and The Seagull, first at Chichester, then at the National Theatre, changed the way audiences and academics see a once-romantic writer. I can’t wait to crack on with Jonathan on Montauk.”

Montauk is set to begin performances on Tuesday, March 30, 2027, opening Monday, April 19, 2027, at MTC’s Broadway venue the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre.

Kent is the former joint Artistic Director of the Almeida Theatre from 1990 to 2002, and he directed hits including Medea starring Diana Rigg and Hamlet starring Ralph Fiennes. His major West End credits also include Gypsy starring Imelda Staunton and Sweeney Todd , and on Broadway he directed revivals of Long Day’s Journey into Night, Faith Healer, Man of La Mancha, and MTC’s The Height of the Storm.

“Working with David is always a profound joy,” Kent said in a statement. “His writing is as vital, witty and razor-sharp as ever, and delving into a world premiere play of his is exhilarating. To collaborate as well with Laura Linney is an exquisite gift. She possesses an emotional depth that perfectly aligns with David’s writing, and I cannot wait to explore this extraordinary piece together in the rehearsal room.”

The synopsis for Montauk reads: “Since his first and most famous show, the abstract painter Jared Speight has known the catastrophe of early success, which has left him both revered and angry, living alone towards the wilder end of Long Island. Roxy Margaux (Linney) is a popular essayist, whose gift for elucidating complicated modern art has sent her books rocketing up the best-seller lists. When Roxy first visits Jared’s studio, the two embark on a relationship which will test both their strategies for survival to the limit. Funny and intelligent, Montauk asks far-reaching questions about our passions and the sacrifices we make for them.

Additional casting for Montauk will be announced at a later date.