Joe Dowling (#154) June, 2007

Guthrie Theatre Artistic Director Joe Dowling talks about the company's move from its historic home into a brand new facility, including the reaction of the Minneapolis audiences to the shift; his own training as an actor at Ireland's Abbey School of Acting and his swift rise to the position of artistic director at the Abbey at age 29 -- only to depart seven years later; why his post-Ireland career took him to America instead of England; his first New York productions -- an acclaimed "Translations" for Manhattan Theatre Club and a panned "Playboy of the Western World" for Roundabout; why he particularly enjoyed working with American actors when he arrived -- even more than with their Irish counterparts; and why he believes there will never be an American national theatre on the European model. Original air date – June 8, 2007.