Leadership

John Meredith and M Sloth Levine, of StageSource’s Gender Explosion Initiative, discuss ways theatremakers can dismantle stigmas against trans people and continue creating an inclusive theatre scene.

Part II of the conversation between Bill Rauch and Nataki Garrett—the outgoing and incoming artistic directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival—touches on inspiring leadership choices, pacing yourself, and cultivating diverse audiences.

Part I of the conversation between Bill Rauch and Nataki Garrett—the outgoing and incoming artistic directors of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival—touches on personal values, gratitude, and how the joy lives in the struggle.

Jordan Schwartz discusses gentrification in developing neighborhoods, how artists moving in need to work with the existing communities, and what kind of change that can bring about.

Artistic directors Joe Haj of Minneapolis’s Guthrie Theater and Rob Melrose of Houston’s Alley Theatre talk about confidence and fearlessness, a company of actors, fighting for the classics, and more.

Holly L. Derr looks at the history of the Method, where it deviates from Stanislavsky’s System, and the connection between the Method and the behavior called out by #MeToo.

D.R. Baker examines some of the realities of artists working in the American theatre and explores how empathy can be harnessed to make the industry a more positive place to work.

Carl(os) Roa offers thoughts on how organizations can create healthier workspaces, weaving in ideas from artists at Philadelphia Young Playwrights and Applied Mechanics.

Artistic directors Marya Sea Kaminski, of the Pittsburgh Public Theater, and Chris Coleman, of the Denver Center for the Performing Arts, talk about board relationships, connecting with new audiences, budgets as moral documents, and more.

Owais Lightwala talks about how Toronto’s Why Not Theatre grew from a scrappy startup to an institution in their own right—which came with a greater responsibility to tackle some of Toronto theatres’s biggest challenges: space, childcare, and diversity.

David Dower, artistic director of ArtsEmerson, reflects on the many recent leadership changes in North American theatre and asks, “What now?”

Tara Branham talks about the importance of harm reduction in the rehearsal hall and shares tools she uses in her practice to reduce risk and manage it if it arises.

In Part Two of this conversation, Sarah Rasmussen, artistic director at Minneapolis’s Jungle Theater, and Joanie Schultz, former artistic director at Addison’s WaterTower Theatre, talk about their biggest successes over the past couple of years, the difference in a board’s relationship to a founding artistic director and to a new leader, and more.

In Part I of this conversation, Sarah Rasmussen, artistic director at Minneapolis’s Jungle Theater, and Joanie Schultz, former artistic director at Addison’s WaterTower Theatre, talk about the importance of working with a third party during leadership transitions, trusting your gut in decision-making, and more.

Kinan Valdez and Jacob G. Padrón talk about growing up in a theatre family, leadership in the Latinx community, the skills needed to be the artistic leader of a company, and more.

Naomi Campbell, Luminato’s new artistic director, sits down with Emma Stenning, Soulpepper’s new executive director, about theatre in Toronto, reaching communities outside of the downtown core, cross-collaboration, and more.

HowlRound Director Jamie Gahlon reflects on 2018 and looks forward to 2019.

Johanna Pfaelzer, incoming artistic director at Berkeley Rep Theatre, and Lisa Steindler, executive artistic director of Z Space, talk about creating partnerships with organizations across the Bay Area, the younger generation of leaders, and more.

Joe Melillo, BAM’s outgoing executive producer, talks to Rob Orchard about his thirty-five-year-long time at the company, continuing his work with emerging artists, and more.

Sarah Bellamy, artistic director of Saint Paul’s Penumbra Theatre, talks to Jamil Jude, incoming artistic director of Kenny Leon’s True Colors Theatre Company in Atlanta, about learning from the founders, the funding disparity between predominantly white institutions and theatres of color, and more.

Susie Medak, managing director of Berkeley Rep Theatre, talks to Rob Orchard about how to best prep staff for a major leadership change, how an outgoing artistic director can work with the incoming one, and more.

Susan Medak, managing director of Berkeley Rep Theatre, speaks with Rob Orchard about a board’s involvement with changing leadership, reevaluating a company’s artistic mission in the lead up to hiring someone new, and more.

Berkeley Rep’s outgoing artistic director Tony Taccone talks with new artistic director of A.C.T. Pam MacKinnon about moving from freelancing to running an institution and vice versa, the language used to talk about a company’s vision, subscriptions as economic foundation of theatre, and more.