The Burry Fredrik Foundation Marks 10 Years of Support

Over $3 million granted from 2012 through 2021 toward the growth and health of Connecticut theaters, with $500,000 to be awarded in 2022

This year marks the 10th anniversary of the Burry Fredrik Foundation championing the growth and continuing health of Connecticut’s non-profit professional producing theaters. Since 2012, the Foundation has granted over $3 million to a dozen Connecticut theaters with a proven track record of accomplishments. In 2022, $500,000 will be awarded. The Foundation was established by Burry Fredrik (1925-2012), a Tony Award®-winning producer and noted director, who lived in Weston, CT.

"Anyone who had the honor of knowing the late Burry Fredrik knew of her great love for the theater,” said Barbara L. Pearce, Foundation chair. “She lived a fascinating life, often in the forefront of theater history. Burry lives on through the impact of her eponymous foundation on the professional theaters of Connecticut.”

Connecticut theaters that have received funds from the Burry Fredrik Foundation include: A Contemporary Theatre of CT (Ridgefield), Collective Consciousness Theatre (New Haven), Goodspeed Musicals (East Haddam), Hartford Stage, The Legacy Theatre (Branford), Long Wharf Theatre (New Haven), Music Theatre of Connecticut (Norwalk), Eugene O’Neill Theater Center (Waterford), Theater Works Hartford, Thrown Stone (Ridgefield), Westport Country Playhouse, and Yale Repertory Theatre (New Haven). An emphasis is placed on supporting theaters working with playwrights and composers who are actively developing and producing new works.
Music Theater of Connecticut’s executive artistic director Kevin Connors acknowledged that the Foundation “embraces the value of artistic accessibility and creative risk-taking, and is thoroughly committed to supporting new and re-imagined works.”

Some of the theater projects that the Foundation has helped make possible during the past decade include the Playwright’s Conference at the Eugene O’Neil Theater Center, the 2021 Script in Hand Series at Westport Country Playhouse, and the Festival of New Musicals at Goodspeed.
Donna Lynn Hilton, Goodspeed Musicals’ artistic director, emphasized that the Foundation’s support “is nothing short of remarkable, allowing us to present to the world powerful new musicals like ‘Come From Away’ and ‘Little Girl Blue: The Nina Simone Musical’.”

Through its Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship, established in 2017, the Foundation helps launch the careers of design talent from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University. Each year, one graduating scenic, costume, lighting, projection, or sound designer selected as the Burry Fredrik Design Fellow receives a $25,000 award. In addition, if the Fellow is hired as a designer at any professional theater in Connecticut in the two years following the award, the Foundation will make a grant to that theater in an amount equal to the fee paid to the designer.

This year’s Burry Fredrik Design Fellowship recipient is Camilla Tassi, a projection/video designer, producer, and musician from Florence, Italy, who is pursuing an MFA in projection design at Yale. Her design credits include “Fun Home” at David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, “Fires in the Mirror” at Baltimore Center Stage and Long Wharf Theatre, and “The Fall of the House of Usher” at Mass MoCA. camillatassi.com

The inaugural Burry Fredrik Design Fellow in 2017 was set designer Claire DeLiso (clairedeliso.com), followed by sound designer Frederick Kennedy in 2018 (fredkennedy.org), scenic designer Stephanie Osin Cohen in 2019 (stephanieosincohen.com), and lighting designer Evan C. Anderson in 2020 (evancanderson.com).