ST. LOUIS: Upstream Theater has named Peter Mayer, a longtime Actors’ Equity member, to be its new managing director. Mayer will work alongside founding artistic director Philip Boehm as the theatre enters its 14th season. In this new position, which reflects the company’s recent growth, Mayer will also take over many tasks previously performed by Boehm.
“We feel extremely fortunate to have someone as experienced, knowledgeable, and well networked as Peter Mayer in the position of managing director, particularly at this time of seriously diminished funding of theatre companies by arts agencies,” said board chair Mary Wertsch in a statement. “He shares Upstream’s dream of providing sustainably funded, thought-provoking, all-professional theatre to St. Louis for many years to come.”
With Mayer’s appointment the company hopes to strengthen its organizational capacity, expand its outreach, and extend its influence beyond St. Louis through the development of new projects and partnerships with other institutions in the area.
In a statement, Mayer said he is pleased to join “a vibrant, exciting theatre characterized by an artistic vision and an intellectual dimension that are quite rare. It will be an honor to work alongside Philip.”
Upstream Theater, founded in 2005, has produced more than two dozen U.S. and world premieres written by playwrights from nearly 20 countries. The theatre is dedicated to bringing art that engages as well as entertains to its St. Louis home.
