WALNUT CREEK, CALIF.: Center Repertory Company at the Lesher Center for the Arts has named Matt M. Morrow their new artistic director. Morrow will succeed acting artistic director Markus Potter, who will serve as artistic producer during the transition period.
“We are thrilled to welcome Matt as the next artistic leader of Center REP and a member of the Lesher Center leadership team,” said Carolyn Jackson, Lesher Center general manager and Center REP managing director, in a statement. “Matt brings a fresh vision for balancing much-loved traditional works alongside new voices. We can’t wait for the Bay Area to get to know him.”
Morrow brings over 20 years of artistic, management, and production experience to Center REP. He has spent the last eight years as the executive artistic director of Diversionary Theatre, where he developed and produced new works and helped the theatre garner 35 San Diego Critics Circle (SDCC) award nominations. Under Morrow’s leadership, Diversionary’s production of Hedwig and the Angry Inch led to the SDCC’s 2019 decision to de-gender their awards. Morrow previously served as the associate artistic director of City Theatre Company and has worked at Amas Musical Theatre, Playwrights Horizons, the Cherry Lane Theatre, and PlayCo. He has developed new works with the Old Globe, Center Theatre Group, the Banff Centre for Arts and Creativity, and American Conservatory Theater, among others. Morrow was the inaugural winner of the Larry T. Baza Arts & Culture Award in 2021 and holds a BFA from Carnegie Mellon University, where he has also served as a professor of directing.
“I’m honored and overjoyed to be joining the incredible Center REP family and the East Bay community,” Morrow said in a statement. “The leader of an arts organization is first and foremost in service of the community in which they live and work. I believe a theatre should be a hub of great art, but also a meeting place where one can take part in a dynamic discussion about what it means to be alive, and a home to connect with others who prioritize art, culture, and awareness.”
Morrow will assume his position part-time this month, assisting Potter until he joins full-time in August.
Center Repertory Company is the resident professional theatre company of the Lesher Center for the Arts. Its mission is to celebrate the power of the human imagination by producing emotionally and intellectually engaging and visually astonishing live theatre and to enrich and advance the cultural life of the community it serves.
