Denver’s Diana Dresser Selected for Prestigious Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship

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Diana Dresser

Denver-based actress, choreographer, director, and teaching artist Diana Dresser was selected as one of ten individuals across the nation to participate in this year’s Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship, a prestigious week-long master class and retreat. Taking place July 12-19, the eight-day program included a daily master class with actress Phylicia Rashad.

Held at Ten Chimneys, the estate of legendary acting couple Alfred Lunt and Lynne Fontanne, this year’s participants focused on “acting against type”; in other words, performing a role completely different than those they are accustomed to. The fellowship culminated in a public performance with Rashad at the retreat in Wisconsin.

Nominated for the Fellowship by the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, Dresser is known to DCPA audiences for her appearances in Anna Karenina, All the Way, Jackie and Me, The Giver, The Wild Party, Sweet & Lucky, and Girls Only, among others. She has also choreographed the DCPA Theatre for Young Audiences productions of Goodnight Moon and Elephant & Piggie’s We Are in a Play! Additionally, she served as resident director or assistant director on Emma, A Little Night Music, and Sweek & Lucky: Echo.

Audiences have also seen her in Ten Myths… (Buntport Theater); The Book Club Play, Our Town (Arvada Center); The Sound Inside, Frozen (Curious Theatre); Tiny Beautiful Things (BETC); The Underpants, It’s a Wonderful Life (Theatre Aspen); Hunchback of Notre Dame, Honeymoon China (Theatre de la Jeune Lune); and close to 50 productions at Creede Repertory Theatre. 

She was joined by nine other actors from across the country:

  • Shirine Babb – Theatre for a New Audience (New York, NY)
  • Jeff Biehl – Theatre for a New Audience (New York, NY)
  • Christiana Clark – Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL)
  • Suzanne Grodner – Asolo Repertory Theatre (Sarasota, FL)
  • Susan Koozin – Alley Theatre (Houston, TX)
  • Jon Hudson Odom – Goodman Theatre (Chicago, IL)
  • Stacy Ross – American Conservatory Theater (San Francisco, CA)
  • Jefferson Russell – Everyman Theatre (Baltimore, MD)
  • Regina Marie Williams – Guthrie Theater (Minneapolis, MN)
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Phylicia Rashad

Selected as the 2026 Master Teacher, Rashad brought extensive experience to the group. Well-known for her roles in The Cosby Show, This Is Us (earning multiple Emmy Awards), and The Gilded Age, she has also won Tony Awards for Raisin in the Sun and Skeleton Crew and was a Tony nominee for Gem of the Ocean. Her film appearances include the Creed trilogy and The Beekeeper among others. Rashad’s directing credits include the Pulitzer Prize and Tony Award-winning play, Purpose. As a performing arts educator, she has conducted Master Classes for prestigious universities and is the first recipient of the Denzel Washington Chair in Theatre at Fordham University.

Large white country-style house with green shutters and striped awnings, surrounded by blooming yellow flowers and leafless trees under a clear blue sky.

Ten Chimneys

Complementing this exclusive opportunity was the setting itself. Alfred Lunt and Lynn Fontanne constructed Ten Chimneys to be the perfect working retreat for themselves and a circle of friends comprising the best-of-the-best in American theater. This historic context and the inherent inspiration of Ten Chimneys is why the Foundation’s inaugural Master Teacher, Lynn Redgrave, said that “this program simply couldn’t happen anywhere else,” and why participating Fellows have all talked about the experience being “transformative.” Today, Ten Chimneys is open to the public as a House Museum.

Described by Ten Chimneys Foundation President & CEO Randy Bryant as, “the preeminent program for our country’s distinguished regional theater actors, the celebrated mentors of their communities,” Dresser joined a list of previous Denver actors in this transformative experience: Rodney Lizcano, Leslie O’Carroll (2026), Sam Gregory (2019), Kathleen McCall (2013), and Kim Staunton (2009).

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