Fellowship / Fellows

Sean Graney

  • 2013–2014
  • Arts
  • Perrin Moorhead Grayson and Bruns Grayson Fellow
  • The Hypocrites Theater Company
Headshot of Sean Graney
Photo by Tony Rinaldo

This information is accurate as of the fellowship year indicated for each fellow.

Sean Graney is a theater adapter/director originally from Saugus, Massachusetts. He is the founding director of The Hypocrites, a Chicago theater company, and was its artistic director for 14 years. Graney has taught at Columbia College Chicago, Lake Forest College, the Theater School at DePaul University, and the University of Chicago.

Graney has created a giant 12-hour theatrical adaptation combining all 32 surviving Greek tragedies, titled All Our Tragic. He aims to introduce modern audiences to a classical theatrical tradition: the immersive, durational-theater experience of the ancient Greeks, which was designed to encourage civic conversation about important contemporary topics by incorporating music, politics, and eating. After a diligent 18 months of writing, which generated more than 1,200 pages of drama, Graney plans to use his fellowship to bring this massive project closer to production.

Graney received his BFA from Emerson College and has written and adapted several plays, most recently Sophocles: Seven Sicknesses, an adaptation of all seven surviving texts of Sophocles, which had successful runs in both New York and Chicago. As a director, he has helmed more than 30 productions for The Hypocrites since 1997. He was a participant in the NEA/TCG Career Development Program for Theatre Directors. He has won four Jeff Awards. His work has been seen at American Repertory Theater, Chicago Children’s Theatre, Chicago Shakespeare Theater, Court Theatre, Goodman Theatre, Milwaukee Repertory Theater, Shakespeare Festival St. Louis, and Steppenwolf for Young Adults.

32 Greek Plays, No Waiting (Harvard Gazette, 5/19/14)

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