NEW YORK CITY: Off-Broadway’s Park Avenue Armory has named British theatre and opera director Deborah Warner its new artistic director. She succeeds Pierre Audi after his sudden death last year. She begins her tenure immediately, with plans to complete the 2027 season and embark on planning for the 2028 season and beyond. Warner comes to Park Avenue after a long career in the U.K. as resident director at Royal Shakespeare Company (RSC), associate director at London’s National Theatre, artistic director of Theatre Royal Bath’s Ustinov Studio, and founder of Kick Theatre Company, where she staged Shakespeare, Brecht, and Büchner. She was the first woman to win the Best Director Olivier, for Titus Andronicus at RSC. She directed The Last September for the screen. Broadway directing credits include Medea in 2002, for which she received a Tony nomination, and The Testament of Mary in 2013. Warner was named a Commander of the British Empire (CBE) in 2006 and was made a Commandeur des Arts et des Lettres by the French government in 2013. She was the Cameron Mackintosh visiting professor of contemporary theatre at Oxford University in 2018, received an honorary fellowship from the Central School of Speech and Drama in 2017, and is an associate artist of the Barbican Theatre.

LOWELL, MASS.: Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) has announced Jenny Lavery as interim executive artistic director, effective Feb. 1. Her term will fill the remainder of the 2025-26 season and the 2026-27 season. MRT’s board will announce a national search for a permanent executive artistic director later this year. Lavery succeeds Bonnie J. Butkas, who recently joined the Firehouse Center for the Arts in Newburyport as its new executive director. Lavery was previously the casting and production associate at Austin’s Zach Theater. Lavery’s work has been seen at Zach Theater, San Pedro Playhouse, Magik Theatre, Mary Moody Northen Theatre, Theatre en Bloc (of which she is co-founder, artistic director, director-in-residence), and Merrimack Repertory Theatre. Recent credits include Murder on the Orient Express, What the Constitution Means to Me, Roe, Merrily We Roll Along, Into the Woods, Ride the Cyclone, and Dance Nation.

BOSTON: The Boston Conservatory at Berklee has announced that theatre educator, director, and performer Ricardo Coke-Thomas is the new chair of its theatre division. He started on Jan. 12 and succeeds interim chair Isaac Leverton. He will work closely with theatre dean Krisha Marcano and assistant theatre chair Bridgette Hayes. Coke-Thomas’s international career, which spans more than three decades, bridges performance, pedagogy, and creative leadership, with a deep commitment to artist development and inclusive storytelling. He served as producing director of student productions and an acting faculty member for the Atlantic Acting School at NYU Tisch, where he oversaw student productions and was a key liaison among artistic leadership, production staff, faculty, and students. He played Simba in Disney’s The Lion King, Donkey in Shrek the Musical for DreamWorks, Tyrone Jackson in Fame, and Lucky Gordon in the world premiere of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Stephen Ward. Coke-Thomas holds degrees in dance and theatre education from the U.K.’s Middlesex University and University for the Creative Arts, London, where he is pursuing his PhD in theatre and performance studies. 

WASHINGTON, D.C.: DC Theater Arts (DCTA), the leading source of theatre news in the D.C./Maryland/Virginia area, has announced Elgin Martin as its next executive director. A development professional and actor, Martin succeeds previous executive director Julian Oquendo. A lifelong DMV resident, Martin brings more than a decade of experience in nonprofit development and organizational leadership, including leadership with Manna Food Center, Food & Friends, and the Holy Cross Health Foundation, where Martin helped launch and grow philanthropic initiatives focused on family philanthropy and donor engagement. His work has strengthened fundraising infrastructure, stewarded donor relationships, and supported sustainable organizational growth. Martin has been an active performer in the local theatre community with Perisphere Theatre, Chesapeake Shakespeare Company, ExPats Theatre, Nu Sass Productions, Theatre Prometheus, and Ford’s Theatre.