NEW YORK CITY: The independent production company Waterwell announced today that Sarah Scafidi has joined the company as managing director following an extensive national search. A recent MFA graduate of the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale, she also holds an MBA from the Yale School of Management and has more than 10 years of experience at regional and small nonprofit theatres.
“Sarah has demonstrated a remarkable capacity for innovative strategic thinking that is deeply aligned with Waterwell’s legacy of being a nimble, resilient, and forward-thinking company,” said two-time Tony nominee Arian Moayed, the company’s co-founder and board chair, in a statement.
Lee Sunday Evans, the company’s current artistic director, added in a statement, “At a time when so many theatres are going back to the root questions—Who are we? What role do we play in our community?—we are thrilled to be welcoming a leader to our team who so clearly values the power of theatre to be a lifeline—entertainment that can grapple with complicated civic questions all at the same time.”
At Yale, Sarah served as the associate managing director of Yale Repertory Theatre and as the managing director of the Yale Cabaret. She was chair of the logistics committee for the 2023 Yale Philanthropy Conference, a fellow with Center Theatre Group, and a Social Finance and Impact intern for 20 Degrees, an impact-focused financial consulting firm. Sarah spent three years as the artistic assistant at Philadelphia’s Arden Theater Company, and has held positions at Round House Theatre, Olney Theatre Center, Kitchen Theatre Company, and Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theatre.
“I am deeply inspired by Waterwell’s commitment to finding innovative ways to marry extraordinary storytelling with civic engagement,” said Scafidi. “The artist-as-citizen practice that’s been cultivated over many Waterwell productions and many years of curriculum development in the Waterwell Drama Program is robust and transformative. This organization is beautifully finding new ways to build authentic, reciprocal relationships with audiences and communities—expanding what is possible for theatre’s role in our world. I am so honored to join Lee and Heather in leading Waterwell during its next chapter of growth and evolution.”
Scafidi succeeds Adam J. Frank who, after serving as Waterwell’s managing director for years, moved to be the new managing director at Baltimore Center Stage. Annie Middleton, a celebrated arts leader who previously led Rattlestick Theater and Heartbeat Opera through transformative periods of growth, served as Waterwell’s interim managing director from December 2022 until July 1. Scafidi joins a co-leadership team which includes artistic director Evans and direction of education Heather Lanza.
Waterwell is a group of artists, producers, and educators dedicated to telling engrossing stories that deliberately grapple with complex civic questions in unexpected ways. The company’s most recent production was the English-language premiere of 7 Minutes by Tony Award winner Stefano Massini, directed by Mei Ann Teo. As of 2022, the theatre’s budget was around $1.4 million.
