James Houghton

James Houghton (September 4, 1958 – August 2, 2016) He started his own theatre company with friends called Overeasy Productions at age 18.

Houghton was married to actress Joyce O'Connor with whom he had two children, Henry and Lily.

Career

Acting and Directing

While in New York City early in his career, Houghton worked as an actor, director, waiter and carpenter. Signature would go on to feature playwrights such as Edward Albee, Arthur Miller, Adrienne Kennedy, María Irene Fornés, and more recently the likes of Athol Fugard and Annie Baker.

It became apparent to Houghton soon that Signature Theatre Company needed a permanent and flexible home, and needed to build a theater, so in 2009 Houghton began fundraising. The building was first going to be featured at the Ground Zero location downtown as part of a redevelopment of downtown by mayor Michael Bloomberg. When costs began to be prohibitive, they moved towards the 42nd street Times Square theatre district. Part of the program to convince to build there was a plan to underwrite tickets so that they would be frozen at $25 each.

Houghton ended up raising $70 million for the project. Pershing Square Signature Center opened in 2012, and is a three-theatre, 75,000 square foot complex designed by Frank Gehry Architects. It also includes two studio spaces, a shared lobby with a café, a bookshop, concierge desk, and administrative offices. The intent was to create a haven for theatre-makers, especially playwrights, that would hold 10 playwrights in residence to produce shows from the level of readings to full productions and all levels in-between.

After starting at Juilliard, he shifted the program from a one-day audition process and a cut program that would drop up to 1/3 of students after their first year to a weekend audition process with no-cuts. Additionally, the masters program included a partnership with Signature in order to give students experience in a professional theatrical atmosphere.

Awards and accolades

In 2015, Houghton was presented a special Obie Award by the American Theatre Wing for Sustained Achievement in the theatrical community.

Death and legacy

On August 2, 2016, Houghton died of stomach cancer in Manhattan.