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Karen A Gahagan
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Salem State’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts (CCPA) will honor Paul Daigneault, founder and artistic director of SpeakEasy Stage, with the 2024 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award on May 8. This award is given to an individual who has impacted their field as an artist, educator and changemaker.
The ceremony will take place during the Center’s annual Creativity Awards and Celebration of the Arts on Wednesday, May 8 at 7 pm. The event is held in Salem State’s Sophia Gordon Center for Creative and Performing Arts, 356 Lafayette Street, Salem.
The Creativity Awards, the top arts award at the university, recognizes the outstanding achievement of 10 student artists across the disciplines of art + design, creative writing, dance, music, and theatre. One highlight of the evening will be the presentation of the Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award to Paul Daigneault.
“We are excited to honor Paul in this way as he has made a tremendous impact in the Boston arts and theater scene,” said Karen Gahagan, director of Salem State’s Center for Creative and Performing Arts. “Not only has Paul directed more than 125 Boston premieres, won multiple professional awards, but equally significant, he has also helped generations of students refine their craft and prepare for their profession.”
Paul Daigneault is a New England-based freelance director, producer, educator, and mentor. A Massachusetts native, he began his theatre career at age 10, directing variety shows for the local kids and charging his neighbors for admission. After graduating from Boston College, Daigneault moved to New York City, where he studied directing, worked as a production assistant on the Broadway musical Grand Hotel, and learned how to run a theatre company from Carole Rothman, Robyn Goodman and the good folks at Second Stage. In 1992, Daigneault returned home and founded SpeakEasy Stage with the help of a few college friends.
For 33 seasons, Daigneault has built SpeakEasy Stage into one of the most respected and acclaimed theatre companies in New England. His impressive list of directing credits, which include such recent hits as The Band's Visit; The Inheritance; Fun Home; Admissions; The Scottsboro Boys; In the Heights; Next to Normal; Parade; Caroline, or Change; and Take Me Out, are a testament to his passion for bold contemporary plays and musicals that give marginalized communities a voice.
“It’s an honor to receive the SSU Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award. I found my voice as a director in college and have spent my career opening doors for young artists to help them find their voice. Thank you to the Salem State community!” said Paul Daigneault, founder and artistic director of SpeakEasy Stage.
In addition, Daigneault is a faculty member at The Boston Conservatory at Berklee for the past 25 years, where he helps train the next generation of theatre artists. In addition to receiving the 2024 Lifetime Achievement in the Arts Award on May 8 from CCPA, Daigneault was honored in 2007 with the Boston College Arts Council’s Alumni Award for Distinguished Achievement and served as BC's 2011-2012 Rev. J. Donald Monan S. J. Professor in Theatre Arts. In 2014, he received the Elliot Norton Prize for Sustained Excellence from the Boston Theater Critics Association.
Daigneault will share the stage with 10 student honorees at the award ceremony. Students are selected by their Salem State department faculty for artistic achievement and contributions to the creative community both on and off campus. The 2024 student honorees are:
Art + Design
Caroline Canty (Billerica, MA)
Marisa Orlando (Gloucester, MA)
Creative Writing
Em Blackwelder (Westfield, MA)
Kejun Zhou (Salem, MA)
Dance
Austin Guin (Salem, MA)
Kaija Schram (Worcester, MA)
Music
Jaylynn Eady (Athol, MA)
Olivia Freni (Revere, MA)
Theatre
Djessy Kungu (Methuen, MA)
Lily Barnes (Mansfield, MA)
This event is free and open to the public. For additional information about attending the Creativity Awards, please email arts@salemstate.edu.