Reconnecting with Dillingham

Larry Hirschhorn '80
Co-Chair, Dillingham Renovation Project

As far as Larry Hirschhorn is concerned, his full-time acting career began the first semester of his freshman year.

"I was fortunate that my parents were able to support me financially, so I didn't have to work my way through school," he said. "I'll always cherish that gift, because it let me immerse myself in acting for what is essentially a professional theater company. The only difference before graduating from IC and after? Before, I wasn't getting paid."

After Commencement, Larry continued to act, and indeed, the checks started coming in. Since he did a lot of stage work, he traveled a lot, and that became an issue when his first child, Jessica, was born. Looking to stay in New York and help his wife, Melissa, raise their growing family (which includes twin sons Benjamin and Joshua), Larry turned to the producing end of the business and learned it, he said, "by the seat of my pants."

The lessons paid off. His Broadway productions have garnered numerous honors, including multiple Tony and Drama Desk nominations. The 2009 revival of Hair, which he coproduced, earned him a Tony Award for best revival of a musical as well as a Drama Desk Award. This spring his coproduction of The Addams Family opened on Broadway and Hair opened in London; The Addams Family received two Tony nominations, for best original score and best performance by a featured actor in a musical.

Though he's thoroughly at home in the Manhattan theater world, Larry still remembers the many hours he spent honing his acting craft at IC. He also remembers the oppressive requirement that he take four gym classes in order to graduate.

"My drama department buddy Ric Stoneback and I found out that tap dancing qualified as a sport," Larry said. "So there we were in a Dillingham studio, two not-so-graceful character actors trying to tap dance. We probably looked like the hippos in Fantasia, but that was OK. It got us out of gym class."

Larry's memories of his college years remain near and dear, yet he hasn't kept in touch with IC -- until now.

"When I was asked to co-chair the Dillingham renovation, I saw a chance to reconnect with people I haven't seen for years," he said. "I'm also getting a chance to give something back to the school. This is an especially important time to do that, because even when I was a student, there was a lot of makeshift stuff in Dillingham, and we had to share the building with other departments. The time has come to technologically update the place for the new century. One of the most respected theater departments in the country deserves a state-of-the art building."