MINNEAPOLIS: Children’s Theatre Company (CTC) announced today that managing director Tim Jennings will leave at the end of September to take on the position of executive director at the renowned Shaw Festival of Canada, based in Niagara on the Lake, Ontario. Jennings, who hails from Canada originally, has served at CTC since 2011.
Reflecting on his tenure at CTC, Jennings said in a statement, “After four seasons of remarkable work with a team that has made life here truly amazing, I will miss [artistic director] Peter Brosius, the staff, the board, the artists and patrons greatly. I leave here truly enriched by my experiences and have been honored to be embraced by a community that leads the nation in recognizing the importance of theatre, culture and the arts…While I am thrilled to be returning to Canada and to be asked to lead one of the world’s great repertory companies, I am sad I won’t be here to celebrate CTC’s 50th anniversary season.”
Jennings, who also sits on the boards of Theatre Communications Group, where he serves as treasurer, and of the Minnesota Theatre Alliance, will relocate to the Niagara region of Ontario.
CTC’s Brosius remarked in a statement, “Tim has made it his life’s work to bring extraordinary theatre to young people and communities. He has been a true leader—building financial stability, deepening ties in the communities he serves and enthusiastically supporting the artistic work.”
The Shaw Festival is one of North America’s largest nonprofit theatre companies, with a budget of $30 million a year, producing work in four historic theatre spaces that run in repertory from April to November. The company is known for its 65-plus person acting company and for its focus on provocative theatre that draws on the work of George Bernard Shaw and his contemporaries, as well as modern work that instigates similar kinds of social dialogue. Jennings will succeed Elaine Calder, who is retiring this year.
A national search for Children’s Theatre Company’s next managing director will begin in earnest shortly.
