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Bravo to Rohan Preston and the Variety section for the feature on the Guthrie Theater's illustrious 60 years ("Grand Ole Guthrie," April 30). But there was one glaring omission in that history: how architect Ralph Rapson's design for the 1963 Guthrie Theater contributed to its success — and the dramatic story of how it came to be.
Unlike the current building, whose "starchitect," Frenchman Jean Nouvel, was chosen after an international search, the 1963 building was designed by one of Minnesota's own — Ralph Rapson, a modernist star of his own time who came to Minnesota in 1954 after a meteoric national and international career to head the University of Minnesota's School of Architecture.
Rapson's choice did not impress Tyrone Guthrie, whose towering ego matched his 6'8" height. But Rapson had already been developing plans for an auditorium for the Walker Art Center, the site chosen for the new theater. "Young man, I want you to know that you would not have been my choice to do this building," Guthrie announced as he met Rapson at the Algonquin Hotel in New York, where he held forth with his colleagues.
It was but the beginning of a famously rocky relationship. (After one meeting, Rapson drew Guthrie as "Sir Tyrant" with devil's horns.)