Jonathan Bixby (costume designer)

Jonathan Bixby (1959-2001) was an Emmy Award winning costume designer and a founding member of Drama Dept., a New York-based theatre company.

Background

Bixby was born in the Philadelphia suburb of Media, where he attended Penncrest High School. He left college after his first semester and moved to New York where he enrolled in the renowned Lester Polikoff School of Set and Costume Design to pursue his love of the stage.

Jonathan Bixby died in 2001 due to complications from colon cancer.

Works

Bixby served as the costume designer on many of the Drama Dept.'s productions, including The Torch-Bearers; Country Club (2000 Drama Desk nomination); As Bees In Honey Drown and June Moon. Among Mr. Bixby's Broadway credits are Band In Berlin, the revival of Hello Dolly and Street Corner Symphony. Numerous other credits include Strike Up the Band and The Tenderloin directed by John Rando (City Centers Encores! series); The Coconuts (American Place Theatre -1996 Art Deco Society Award); Sheba (the Jewish Rep.); Advice From a Caterpillar (Lucille Lortell); The Skin of Our Teeth; Man Is Man; The Three Sisters; Galileo; Life is a Dream and The Importance of Being Earnest (Jean Cocteau Repertory).

Jonathan Bixby and his designing partner Gregory Gale were nominated for a Tony award for excellence in costume design for their work on the Broadway hit Urinetown

Among the Regional theatre productions he created costumes for were Rhinoceros (New Jersey Shakespeare Festival); Merton of the Movies (Geffen Playhouse); Lives of the Saints (Berkshire Theatre Festival); Sayonara -LA Drama Critics Award (Theatre of the Stars, Houston - Seattle 5th Ave. and Los Angeles); June Moon (McCarter Theatre); Man of LaMancha and Oklahoma! (Birmingham Theatre); A Streetcar Names Desire and Caucasian Chalk Circle (Bloomsberg Theatre Ensemble).

His unique imagination was expressed in the costumes he designed for the long touring international Cirque' Ingenieux, and designs for many International and U.S. touring companies, including "The Sound of Music, Brigadoon, The Wiz, Evita, My Fair Lady, West Side Story, Jesus Christ Superstar, Tango Passion" (Europe), "The King and I" (West End, USA and Japan) and "Hello Dolly" (Paris Premiere).

His film work includes Angel Passing with Hume Cronyn and Teresa Wright (Sundance Festival) and Eventual Wife. Along with his award winning TV work on "All My Children", Mr. Bixby also served as costume designer on the ABC daytime series "One Life to Live".

External links

* [http://www.ibdb.com/person.asp?ID=25001 Bixby's page at the Internet Broadway Database]
* [http://www.lortel.org/LLA_archive/index.cfm?search_by=people&keyword=name&first=Jonathan&last=Bixby&middle= Bixby's page at the Internet Off-Broadway Database]
*imdb name|id=1067831|name=Jonathan Bixby