PROVIDENCE: Trinity Repertory Company has announced that artistic director Curt Columbus will step down in fall 2026. Columbus became Trinity Rep’s sixth artistic director in January 2006. Having served for 20 seasons, he holds the longest tenure as artistic director after founding artistic director Adrian Hall. At Trinity Rep, he directed more than 25 classical works, contemporary plays, world premieres, musicals, and multiple productions of A Christmas Carol. Trinity Rep has produced also world premieres of his work as a playwright with Paris by Night, The Dreams of Antigone, and Sparrow Grass, as well as his translations of Chekhov’s Cherry Orchard and Ivanov, Feydeau’s A Flea in Her Ear, and Lope de Vega’s Like Sheep to Water (Fuente Ovejuna). Previously, Columbus worked in the Chicago theatre scene for nearly 20 years as the associate artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre, director of the University of Chicago’s University Theater, and an artistic associate at Victory Gardens Theater. Under his leadership, Trinity Rep expanded its reputation nationally and locally, producing at least one new work each season and embracing local stories. Columbus played a key role in expanding Trinity Rep’s commitment to equity, diversity, inclusion, anti-racism, education, and community engagement. He was a co-creator and mentor for the Kennedy Center/League of Resident Theatres (LORT) ASPIRE Arts Leadership Fellows. In 2014, the Rhode Island General Assembly recognized Trinity Rep as the state theatre of Rhode Island. In 2017, he helped launch a reimagining of the theatre’s facilities as a venue for community, creativity, and exploration.
NEW YORK CITY: Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundation (SDCF), the not-for-profit foundation of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC), has announced Laura Peete as its new foundation director as of Sept. 8. Peete has a decades-long career uplifting artists and building inclusive creative ecosystems. She has led the development of programs, productions, and fellowships that have supported, mentored, and celebrated hundreds of emerging and established artists across disciplines. Most recently, she served as associate artistic director at Theatre Under the Stars in Houston, where she line-produced mainstage works, guided artistic strategy, served as casting director, developed and curated artistic experiences including festivals and award ceremonies, and directed the launch of the TUTS pre-professional training company, as well as collegiate apprenticeships. A champion for access and belonging, Peete has collaborated with Disney Theatrical Group, The Broadway League, NAMT, Jazz at Lincoln Center, and more. She holds degrees from Millikin University and DePaul University.
PITTSBURGH: As Monteze Freeland moves on from City Theatre Company to serve as artistic director at Alumni Theater Company, Clare Drobot has become City Theatre’s sole artistic director, leading alongside managing director James McNeel. In fall 2021, Drobot and Freeland began co-leading the organization under a shared leadership model, alongside artistic director Marc Masterson and managing director James McNeel. After Masterson retired in 2024, Drobot and Freeland shared the co-artistic director title for the 2024-25 season. A trained dramaturg, Drobot joined City Theatre in 2015 as director of new play development and previously served as associate artistic director. In addition to commissions, productions, and the Momentum Festival, Drobot was integral to the creation and implementation of the organization’s City Connects community engagement initiative, which was created in early 2017 and featured partnerships with over 120 nonprofits.
BALTIMORE: Baltimore Center Stage has announced that managing director Adam Frank will step down this fall, with a last day of Oct. 10. Frank began in his position in 2022 following his tenure at Waterwell, leading BCS through post-Covid pandemic recovery. The company announced staff and pay cuts in early 2024. Business improved for the 2024-25 season, when the theatre’s annual operating revenue grew by more than $2.8 million and annual attendance increased by 96 percent. Frank and artistic director Stevie Walker-Webb made headlines this past March, when they made it clear that BCS would not accept federal funding that required compliance with the Trump administration’s anti-DEI guidelines. Frank, who plans to step away from theatre “for a few years” while figuring out his next career role, said he is leaving BCS amicably and with confidence in the new leadership duo of producing director Ken-Matt Martin and artistic director Stevie Walker-Webb.
NEW YORK CITY: Vineyard Theatre has announced that Douglas Aibel will step down as its artistic director, a position he has held since 1985, and in partnership with Sarah Stern since 2011. Stern will continue as the sole artistic director of the theatre. Aibel will continue his work as a producer and casting director on high-profile upcoming film and television projects. Aibel began as an associate director with the Vineyard in 1982 and was named artistic director in 1985 by the theare’s founder, Barbara Zinn Krieger. He shepherded influential American theatre works, including How I Learned to Drive, Three Tall Women, Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar and Grill, Avenue Q, [title of show], The Scottsboro Boys, The Lyons, and Indecent, and collaborated with writers including Paula Vogel, Edward Albee, Nicky Silver, Craig Lucas, Kirsten Childs, Polly Pen, Colman Domingo, John Kander, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, and more, shaping the Vineyard into a home for bold, innovative artists, plays, and musicals.
DALLAS: Dallas Children’s Theater (DCT) has announced that North Texas philanthropy leader Michael Meadows has been appointed as its interim executive director, effective Sept. 1. Meadows joins DCT with a career of enhancing Dallas’ cultural icons, deepening community engagement, spearheading fundraising, and successfully quarterbacking nonprofit transformations. Meadows succeeds Samantha Turner, who served as DCT’s first new executive director in its 40-year history when founder Robyn Flatt retired. Turner will transition to the role of chief operating officer for a period of months to ensure a smooth leadership transition. This change follows the announcement in June that DCT would be restructuring and reducing its programming, including pausing its DCT Academy education program. Meadows brings nearly four decades of experience in the nonprofit and philanthropic sectors, including president and CEO of the Dallas Zoological Society, where he led the transformation of the Dallas Zoo into one of the nation’s premier zoological parks. He has also held leadership positions at Southwestern Medical Foundation and the University of Texas at Dallas.
WATERFORD, CONN.: Current National Music Theater Conference (NMTC) artistic director Alexander Gemignani will concurrently serve as the new artistic director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center’s National Music Theater Institute. A Tony nominee and the son of celebrated Sondheim orchestrator Paul Gemignani, he has served in his position with NMTC since 2018. He also works at Northwestern University as associate professor of instruction and artistic director of the American Music Theatre Project, and has served on the faculty of the National Theatre Institute at the O’Neill and NYU Steinhardt. The 13-week program of professional musical theatre training will be offered as a standalone semester for the first time in spring 2026. Gemignani will be among the instructors teaching vocal technique, vocal performance, acting, and dance, paired with enrichment classes in dramaturgy and insights into creative team functionality.
LOS ANGELES: The Fountain Theatre has announced Johannah Maynard Edwards’s instatement as its new managing director, and the retirement of development director Barbara Goodhill after 12 years. Edwards previously served as executive artistic director of the National Women’s Theatre Festival, where she produced, directed, and championed hundreds of productions by artists of underrepresented genders. A nationally recognized leader in arts accessibility, Edwards received the Kennedy Center’s LEAD® Award for Emerging Leaders, and she is chief ambassador for the Parent Artist Advocacy League. Goodhill has led the Fountain’s fundraising and development efforts. Under her stewardship, the theatre has expanded its donor base, secured critical funding for award-winning productions, and deepened its engagement with the L.W. community. In recognition of her contributions, the Fountain will dedicate the Barbara Goodhill Community Room, a welcoming space for audiences, artists, and neighbors to gather before and after performances, participate in talkbacks, and engage in meaningful dialogue. The new space, currently seeking donations, will serve as a lasting tribute to Goodhill’s belief that theatre thrives when it brings people together.
WILMINGTON: Delaware Theatre Company has announced a new co-leadership model, with producing artistic director Mimi Warnick (previously announced in February) being joined by managing director Candice Buchanan, who was announced in August. Warnick is a Broadway veteran who has worked at New York and regional theatres, including Irish Repertory Theatre, Keen Company, and more. Buchanan previously worked with the Delaware Department of Education and youth development nonprofits, and she hopes to prioritize bringing in new audiences in her position. This comes after executive and artistic director Matt Silva stepped down earlier this year, ushering in a new era with his position divided into two jobs: one focused on executive and managerial work, and one focusing on artistic work.
NEW YORK CITY: The New School has named Richard Kessler as its new provost and executive vice president for academic affairs. He began on Aug. 5. A higher education administrator, musician, teaching artist, and advocate, he will partner with New School President Joel Towers to shape academic vision; integrate transdisciplinary research, programs, and creative practice; and lead academic planning, curriculum, faculty affairs, research, and academic services and resources. As executive dean of the College of Performing Arts and dean of Mannes since 2011, Kessler was instrumental in integrating Mannes School of Music, the School of Jazz and Contemporary Music, and the School of Drama to create the College of Performing Arts in 2015. Under his leadership, the College of Performing Arts introduced new degree programs, minors, and concentrations; recruited new ensembles in residence; moved experimental music venue the Stone into the New School; expanded the Mannes Composition department; and hired Leila Josefowicz, Jennifer Koh, and Arturo O’Farrill.
BELFAST, ME.: The Colonial Theatre, owned and operated by the Hawthorne Arts Collaborative, has announced that Meg Fournier has been appointed as its new executive director. Born and raised in Louisiana, Fournier has made Belfast and greater Waldo County her home for nearly 20 years. She brings years of experience driving community-focused, multidisciplinary arts programs across Maine and beyond. Most recently, she served as operations director and producer for Points North Institute, whose programs include the Camden International Film Festival and Points North Forum. Her career has spanned a wide range of arts and cultural institutions including the Maine Arts Commission, Waterfall Arts, the Maine International Film Festival, Unity College Center for the Arts, and the Renzi Education and Art Center in Shreveport, Louisiana. Locally, Fournier also co-founded and directed two former Belfast-based projects: Roots & Tendrils and the Free Range Music Festival.
