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 | | Lawrence E. Sloan | | | Inducted 2005 [Posthumous] | | | | Theatrical director and fund-raiser, for
achievements at the Goodman Theatre and Remains Theatre and for serving
as the first executive director of Season of Concern, the Chicago
theater community's AIDS fund-raising organization. | |
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| Larry Sloan fell in love with Chicago as a
student at Northwestern University and never left. His energy, creativity,
generosity, and passion for the city made him an
influential leader in Chicago’s worlds of art and
advocacy. | |
| At Northwestern, Sloan distinguished himself as
a director, actor, and writer. He received the
school’s prestigious Agnes Nixon Award for an
original play, Oedipus Wrecked. In his senior year, he began work as an artistic
intern at the Goodman Theatre. During the next five years, Sloan moved up the
ranks, eventually becoming associate director. | |
| From 1986 to 1993, Sloan was the indefatigable artistic director of Remains
Theatre. He worked fervently to establish Remains as an innovative force in the
American theater. Productions he mounted and his entrepreneurial ideas made
Remains a creative haven for Chicago artists and audiences. While at Remains,
Sloan spearheaded the slashing of ticket prices, a far-reaching commitment to
accessibility, the development of talented young artists, and other memorable
initiatives. Such exciting but risky ideas are testaments to his personal
philosophy. He wanted to build a theater that was inclusive, one that was inviting
and vital to a new, broader audience. | |
| During his seven years with Remains, Sloan produced and directed more than 25
shows, including such hits as Puntila and His Hired Man, Road, Big Time, and
The Chicago Conspiracy Trial. | |
| In 1991, Sloan took on additional responsibility as the first executive director of
Season of Concern, the Chicago theater community’s fund-raising effort to
provide direct care to persons living with AIDS. Typically, he found inspiration
in his own HIV-positive diagnosis and found a way to use his personal energy,
anger, and compassion to help others. Under his leadership, Season of Concern
doubled its annual budget and raised more than $500,000 for local AIDS service
agencies. His work there earned him a special humanitarian award at the
November 1994 Jeff Awards, which he accepted with the observation that “the
more I live with AIDS, the more I am amazed not by how much it attacks the
body, but by how much it frees the mind.” Born in 1959, he died of complications
from AIDS on January 19, 1995. | |
| Sloan was a person of humor, dignity, and especially generosity. He changed the
lives of many with whom he worked and, through his artistic and charitable work,
the lives of many who never knew him. His passionate commitment to Chicago is
still remembered. | |
| Lawrence Sloan's award was accepted by Steppenwolf Theatre Artisic, Martha Lavey.
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| This biography is as of the induction date. It has not been updated. |
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