David Hawkanson, whose partnership with Mark Lamos led Connecticut's Hartford Stage Company into the first rank of American resident theatres, has been appointed executive director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis.Hawkanson, who was associate manager oat the Guthrie in the 1970s, will now be partnered with Guthrie Artistic Director Joe Dowling. Hawkanson was also has worked as assistant director of the Special Projects Program for the National Endowment for the Arts, and managing director of the Arizona Theatre Company before serving eight years as managing director at Hartford Stage.

During his time there, he supervised commercial Broadway or off-Broadway transfers of Other People's Money , Stand-Up Tragedy, From the Mississippi Delta, Marvin's Room and the Tony-nominated Our Country's Good. In 1989, Hawkanson and Lamos accepted Hartford Stage's special Tony Award for Outstanding Achievement in Regional Theatre.

Hawkanson replaces Edward A. Martenson on May 1.