The Broadway in Memoriam Committee has confirmed names of the honorees for whom marquees of all 41 Broadway theaters will dim simultaneously on March 10 at 6:45 p.m. This collective tribute will honor the lives and professional contributions of D.L. Coburn, John Cunningham, Carmen de Lavallade, Frank Dunlop, Robert Duvall, Bret Hanna-Shuford, Harry Haun and Isiah Whitlock Jr.
Established in 2025, Broadway in Memoriam is a quarterly tradition designed to recognize the influential artists, creators and industry professionals who have shaped the theatrical community. The event takes place four times a year — on the second Tuesday of September, December, March and June. While the committee maintains the option to schedule separate memorials for individuals who have made singular, profoundly significant impacts on the industry, the quarterly dimmings ensure a regular and inclusive cycle of remembrance for the Broadway workforce.
The honorees for the March 10 ceremony represent a broad spectrum of theatrical disciplines. Coburn was a Pulitzer Prize-winning dramatist best known for writing the 1977 play “The Gin Game,” which originally ran for 517 performances at the Golden Theatre and has seen multiple revivals. Cunningham was an actor with 18 Broadway credits; his career began in 1960 with “My Fair Lady” and included original roles in “Zorba,” “Company,” “Six Degrees of Separation” and “Titanic.” De Lavallade was a dancer and choreographer who made her Broadway debut as a performer in 1954’s “House of Flowers” and later appeared in the 2012 revival of “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Dunlop, founder of London’s Young Vic, was a prolific director whose Broadway credits included “Scapino,” “Sherlock Holmes,” the 1980 and 1981 revivals of “Camelot” as well as the original British mounting of “Joseph and the Amazing Technicolor Dreamcoat.”
The committee will also recognize Robert Duvall, an Academy Award-winning star of “Tender Mercies” who debuted on Broadway in “Wait Until Dark” in 1966; he returned in 1977 for the original production of David Mamet’s “American Buffalo.” Hanna-Shuford was a veteran of nine Broadway shows including “Chitty Chitty Bang Bang,” “The Little Mermaid” and “Wicked,” as well as a popular digital creator and a mentor to young performers. Haun was a prominent theater journalist and critic who spent 37 years at Playbill and 17 years at the New York Daily News chronicling the industry. Whitlock was a celebrated character actor whose Main Stem work included “The Iceman Cometh” and “The Merchant of Venice.”
Industry members and the public may submit creative and career professionals for future consideration by providing a description of their Broadway work and relevant biographical details at the organization’s official website. The next application deadline is May 12 for the dimming scheduled on June 9.
