Person Page - 3019

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 6 Nov 1969; Birth County: Santa Clara.

James F. Houghton¹

M, #90542, b. 6 November 1969

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Nov 6, 1969

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 6 Nov 1969; Birth County: Santa Clara.

Joan May Heaney¹

F, #90543, b. 28 May 1929

Family: Sherrill Francis Houghton

Marriage*: Joan May Heaney married Sherrill Francis Houghton, son of Sherrill D. Houghton and Frances Emma Chamberlain, on Oct 7, 1950 at San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA, age 22 and 21.

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

May 28, 1929

Marriage

Oct 7, 1950

San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA, age 22 and 21

Occupation

a dental assistant and a preschool teacher.

Living

2020

San Francisco, San Francisco Co., CA, USA¹

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 4 Sep 1958; Birth County: San Francisco.

James Joseph Houghton¹

M, #90544, b. 4 September 1958, d. 2 August 2016

Family: Joyce L. O'Conner

Marriage*: James Joseph Houghton married Joyce L. O'Conner on Nov 18, 1986 at Indianapolis, Marion Co., IN, USA, age 28 and 26, actor and actress.

Biography

Corresponded with author

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Birth

Sep 4, 1958

Graduation

1981

Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA, B.F.A.

Residence

1986

Daly City, San Mateo Co., CA, USA

Marriage

Nov 18, 1986

Indianapolis, Marion Co., IN, USA, age 28 and 26, actor and actress

Note

2013

Santa Clara University, Santa Clara, CA, USA, honorary PhD

Newspaper

Mar 11, 2015

Signature Theater’s Artistic Director to Depart
By Michael Paulson March 11, 2015 3:00 pm March 11, 2015 3:00 pm
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James Houghton
James HoughtonCredit Chad Batka for The New York Times

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James Houghton, one of the leading figures in the Off Broadway theater world, is resigning after a quarter-century running the Signature Theater in New York.

Mr. Houghton, 56, has learned he has stomach cancer, and will step down to focus on his health and his family, according to the theater, a nonprofit. He plans to end his tenure as artistic director at the end of the 2015-16 season, but he will continue working as the director of the drama division at the Juilliard School.

Signature is best-known for two initiatives: it has repeatedly dedicated seasons to works by a single playwright, and it has maintained an unusual focus on affordability, offering a high number of subsidized tickets. Under his leadership, Signature built and moved into a Frank Gehry-designed three-theater space on 42nd Street in 2012.

Mr. Houghton, who started his career with the Acting Company, founded Signature in 1991 and has overseen its considerable financial, physical and reputational growth. Signature was singled out for the regional theater Tony Award last year.

Signature and Mr. Houghton declined requests for an interview. In a statement, Mr. Houghton said that he was confident that “a bright future lies ahead” for Signature. The film actor Edward Norton, who has been a major champion of Signature and serves as the chairman of its board, praised Mr. Houghton in the statement, saying that “Jim has been an incredible leader with remarkable vision,” and also expressed confidence in the theater’s future.

Signature said it would begin a search for a new artistic director, and hoped to have that person in place by July 1, 2016.

Death

Aug 2, 2016

Manhattan, NY, USA

Obituary

Aug 3, 2016

New York Times, James Houghton, Founder of Signature Theater Company, Dies at 57

By BRUCE WEBERAUG. 3, 2016
James Houghton, the founder of the Signature Theater Company, in June. Credit Jesse Dittmar for The New York Times

James Houghton, the founder and, until recently, the artistic director of the Signature Theater Company, one of Off Broadway’s essential nonprofit theaters and perhaps the nation’s leading safe house for playwrights, died on Tuesday at his home in Manhattan. He was 57.

The cause was stomach cancer, his brother, Scott, said.

A former actor, Mr. Houghton (pronounced HOW-ton) was in his early 30s when he started Signature in 1991 with the idea of presenting annual, season-long programs featuring the work of just one playwright. The initial season was devoted to Romulus Linney, a prolific and daring but largely unsung dramatist whose play “Heathen Valley” Mr. Houghton had appeared in a few years earlier.

In an 85-seat space, Mr. Houghton produced six plays by Mr. Linney, who died in 2011, for a total of $35,000.

Over the next quarter-century, playwrights as formidable and famous as Arthur Miller, Sam Shepard, August Wilson and John Guare, and others as formidable and not so famous as Lee Blessing, Adrienne Kennedy and María Irene Fornés, had the spectrum of their careers — often including new works — showcased in multiple productions.

During the 1994-95 season, devoted to Horton Foote, Signature presented a world premiere play, “The Young Man From Atlanta,” which transferred to Broadway and won a Pulitzer Prize.

As the theater grew in artistic power, it gained in financial muscle as well. It moved to bigger spaces, most recently to the Pershing Square Signature Center on West 42nd Street, a three-theater, 75,000-square-foot compound designed by Frank Gehry Architects, for which the theater raised $70 million.

Signature’s annual budget now hovers around $13 million, which underwrites an expanded mission: The company sponsors three separate programs that support the residency of 10 playwrights, including rising talents like Annie Baker and Katori Hall, midcareer artists like Kenneth Lonergan and Regina Taylor, and at least one éminence grise, Athol Fugard.

A year ago, after learning of his cancer, Mr. Houghton announced that he would step down at Signature after the 2015-16 season. Paige Evans, formerly the artistic director of LCT3, the new-play development program at Lincoln Center Theater, succeeded him.

A few weeks ago, interviewed as he was moving out of his office, Mr. Houghton told Ben Brantley of The New York Times that it was working with Mr. Linney as an actor that had spurred the idea for a playwrights’ theater.

“I just fell in love with this process with Romulus,” he said. “There was just something so spontaneous — anything could happen in the room. New lines would come, a cut would come, just because of something you either inhabited the script with, or because you asked a question. At the same time, Romulus, at 60, was folding his own programs and hanging his own lights, and it just felt like it wasn’t right that he was still pushing so hard, pushing a boulder up the mountain. Anyway, that planted seeds.”

James Joseph Houghton was born in San Francisco on Sept. 4, 1958, and grew up in the Bay Area. His mother, the former Joan Heaney, worked as a dental assistant and a preschool teacher. His father, Sherrill, was a school administrator.

James fell in love with the theater at St. Ignatius College Preparatory, a Jesuit school in San Francisco, and with friends he started a theater company, Overeasy Productions, when he was 18. He earned a B.F.A. at Santa Clara University, and an M.F.A. from the Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University in Dallas.

In 1986, he won a place in the Acting Company, the touring classical-theater troupe whose co-founder, John Houseman, became a mentor. Its other alumni include Kevin Kline, Patti LuPone, David Ogden Stiers, Frances Conroy, Jeffrey Wright, Harriet Harris, Hamish Linklater and Keith David.

That same year he married Joyce O’Connor, who survives him. In addition to her and his brother, he is survived by his parents; three sisters, Susan Devine, Lynne Houghton and Trish Line; a son, Henry; and a daughter, Lily.

From 2000 to 2003, Mr. Houghton was also the artistic director of the National Playwrights Conference at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford, Conn., developing new plays by Kia Corthron, Gina Gionfriddo, David Lindsay-Abaire, Adam Rapp and many others.

From 2006 until his death, he was director of the drama division at the Juilliard School, which was founded in 1968, also by John Houseman. Like Professor Kingsfield, the Harvard law scholar famously played by Houseman in the 1973 film “The Paper Chase,” the drama division was long known for its emphasis on discipline and for upholding rigorous standards that kept the pressure on the small number of students who were admitted after auditions. (In 2016 there 2,000 applicants for 18 spots.)

Mr. Houghton altered the Juilliard audition process and is credited with relaxing the atmosphere of the program. During his tenure, Juilliard added a Master of Fine Arts degree program in drama for the first time and created a partnership with Signature to enable students to work in a professional theater setting.

“I don’t think there was anyone in the theater community more beloved than Jim,” the playwright Tony Kushner, whose work was featured in Signature’s 2010-11 season, wrote in an email. “He had a great soul and a grand capacity for friendship and love. He was smart and passionate. He built his singular legacy, founded on his devotion to playwrights’ work and to playwrights themselves, with a uniquely sweet, generous spirit; with unflagging optimism; and with grace.”
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Related Coverage

James Houghton: The ‘Samurai Spirit’ of Signature Theater JULY 1, 2016²

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 4 Sep 1958; Birth County: San Francisco.
[S93] Newspaper Obituary, http://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/04/theater/…

(?) Elder¹

F, #90545

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Nov 1961; Birth County: San Diego.

James L. Houghton¹

M, #90546, b. 13 November 1961

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

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Birth

Nov 13, 1961

San Deigo Co., CA, USA¹

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Nov 1961; Birth County: San Diego.

(?) Barker¹

F, #90547

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

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Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Jul 1967; Birth County: Orange.

James R. Houghton¹

M, #90548, b. 13 July 1967

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

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Birth

Jul 13, 1967

Orange Co., CA, USA¹

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Jul 1967; Birth County: Orange.

(?) Buchner¹

F, #90549

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

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Research

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 24 Jan 1946; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Raymond Houghton¹

M, #90550, b. 24 January 1946

Biography

Corresponded with author

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Birth

Jan 24, 1946

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 24 Jan 1946; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Scot Houghton¹

M, #90551, b. 5 January 1958

Family: Candace (?)

Marriage*: James Scot Houghton married Candace (?)²

Biography

Corresponded with author

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Birth

Jan 5, 1958

Butte Co., CA, USA¹

Marriage

Living

2012

Research

Rebecca Marie Houghton
Pamela Ann Houghton
Mathew S Houghton
John W Houghton
Donald Lee Houghton

Residence

Oroville, CA
Chico, CA
Durham, CA
Paradise, CA

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 5 Jan 1958; Birth County: Butte.
[S93] Newspaper Obituary, http://www.legacy.com/obituaries/chicoer/obituary.aspx

(?) Brown¹

F, #90552

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Duplicate

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 15 Feb 1954; Birth County: Los Angeles.

James Sherman Houghton¹

M, #90553, b. 15 February 1954

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Feb 15, 1954

Kingman, Mohave Co., AZ, USA

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 15 Feb 1954; Birth County: Los Angeles.

Helen Louise Belles

F, #90554, b. 1 March 1924, d. 8 December 2004

Family: Cecil Leroy Houghton

Marriage*: Helen Louise Belles married Cecil Leroy Houghton, son of Jesse Leo Houghton and Dora Thompson, on Jun 25, 1945 at CA, USA.

Biography

Corresponded with author

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Birth

Mar 1, 1924

Indianapolis, IN, USA

Marriage

Jun 25, 1945

CA, USA

Death

Dec 8, 2004

Burial

Mountain View Cemetery, Kingman, Mojave Co., AZ, USA

James William Houghton¹

M, #90555, b. 14 June 1951

Biography

Corresponded with author

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Birth

Jun 14, 1951

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 14 Jun 1951; Birth County: Los Angeles.

(?) Shelley¹

F, #90556

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 26 Jan 1982; Birth County: Orange.

Jamison Allen Houghton¹

M, #90557, b. 26 January 1982

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Jan 26, 1982

Orange Co., CA, USA¹

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 26 Jan 1982; Birth County: Orange.

(?) Hogg¹

F, #90558

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 9 Feb 1965; Birth County: Santa Clara.

Jan C. Houghton¹

M, #90559, b. 9 February 1965

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Feb 9, 1965

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 9 Feb 1965; Birth County: Santa Clara.

Jane A. Houghton¹

F, #90560, b. 23 December 1956

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Dec 23, 1956

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 23 Dec 1956; Birth County: Los Angeles.

(?) Wyman¹

F, #90561

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 23 Jul 1980; Birth County: Santa Clara.

Jane Elizabeth Houghton¹

F, #90562, b. 23 July 1980

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Jul 23, 1980

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 23 Jul 1980; Birth County: Santa Clara.

Janet Lee Houghton¹

F, #90563, b. 30 July 1947

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Jul 30, 1947

Duplicate

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 30 Jul 1947; Birth County: Santa Clara.

Janet Ruth Houghton¹

F, #90564, b. 13 March 1931

Family: Kenneth L. Kollock

Marriage*: Janet Ruth Houghton married Kenneth L. Kollock on Nov 21, 1950 at Orange Co., CA, USA.

Biography

Corresponded with author

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Birth

Mar 13, 1931

Los Angeles Co., CA, USA, age 9 in 1940 census¹

Marriage

Nov 21, 1950

Orange Co., CA, USA

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 13 Mar 1931; Birth County: Los Angeles.

(?) May¹

F, #90565

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 22 Jan 1994; Birth County: San Diego.

Jared Marshall Houghton¹

M, #90566, b. 22 January 1994

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author

Birth

Jan 22, 1994

San Diego Co., CA, USA¹

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 22 Jan 1994; Birth County: San Diego.

(?) Houghton¹

F, #90567

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

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Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 4 May 1974; Birth County: Shasta.

Jason A. Houghton¹

M, #90568, b. 4 May 1974

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

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Birth

May 4, 1974

Shasta Co., CA, USA¹

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 4 May 1974; Birth County: Shasta.

Jason D. Houghton¹

M, #90569, b. 29 September 1971

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

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Birth

Sep 29, 1971

Citations

[S1326] California Birth Index, 1905-1995, online Ancestry. Com, Birthdate: 29 Sep 1971; Birth County: Los Angeles.

(?) Houghton¹

F, #90570

Biography

A Contributor to Houghton Surname Project

Corresponded with author