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Al Heartley

Al Heartey is Managing Director of the Virginia Wadsworth Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts at Northwestern University.

Al Heartley (he/him) is a principal at ALJP Consulting, a search and strategic-planning firm working with arts organizations across the country. He co-founded the firm out of a call to bring equity and inclusion to hiring and planning. His partners have included the Lark Play Development Center, Marin Theatre Company, Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Philadelphia Theatre Company, Penumbra Theatre, Dallas Theater Center, Pasadena Playhouse, East West Players, and New York Theatre Workshop. Prior to his life as a consultant, Al was the managing director of the Wirtz Center for the Performing Arts at Northwestern University. He is a graduate of Yale School of Drama and has worked for various regional theatres across the country including the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center, Yale Repertory Theatre, the Guthrie Theater, Cleveland Play House, and Steppenwolf Theatre Company. He has taught or lectured at Northwestern, Florida State, Yale, Michigan, Syracuse, the Commercial Theater Institute, the National Theater Institute, and Shenandoah University.

kevin dinkins jr and al heartley
We Don’t Want Your Statements, American Theatre
Essay

We Don’t Want Your Statements, American Theatre

or, The Solidarity We Actually Needed

11 June 2020

Al Heartley and Kelvin Dinkins, Jr., Black theatre managers who work in predominantly white American theatres, respond to the recent “solidarity” statements posted by theatres across the country after George Floyd was killed.

five actors onstage
Balancing Business, Art, and Mission
Essay

Balancing Business, Art, and Mission

A Conversation about Theatre Management

8 December 2019

Early career arts manager Al Heartley speaks with Jennifer Bielstein, executive director of American Conservatory Theater, about active listening, how to balance focusing on the details with looking at the bigger pictures, management values, and more.