ANNA D. SHAPIRO will be the new artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company, after longtime leader Martha Lavey steps down at the end of the 2014–15 season. In addition, current Steppenwolf managing director David M. Schmitz is taking over for David Hawkanson as executive director in January 2015.
GINA VERNACI has been named executive producer of PlayhouseSquare in Cleveland, Ohio. Vernaci has been on the PlayhouseSquare staff since 1984, mostly recently occupying the position of senior vice president of theatre operations.
A leadership transition is scheduled at ArtsEmerson in Boston. In January 2015, ROB ORCHARD will step down from his position as executive director of the presenting organization, after which he will serve in a part-time capacity as founder and creative consultant for ArtsEmerson. David Dower will assume the post of executive director. Dower is currently the organization’s director of artistic programs.
ROBERT SERRELL has been promoted to executive director of the Barrow Group Theatre Company and School in New York City. Serrell first joined the theatre in 2010 as its director of education.
MATT MORROW is the new executive director of Diversionary Theatre in San Diego, Calif. He will start work at the theatre this month, after serving since 2013 as the company’s acting executive artistic director. Prior to that, he was the associate artistic director of Pittsburgh’s City Theatre Company.
MATT CHAPURAN has started his new job as managing director of Lyric Stage Company of Boston. He comes to Lyric Stage from the nearby Huntington Stage Company, where he managed institutional giving. Chapuran isn’t unfamiliar with Lyric Stage—he was an intern there in 1994.
SARAH MCLELLAN is the new managing director of Clubbed Thumb in New York City. She takes over for Nora DeVeau-Rosen, who is leaving the company after two and a half years to move to Los Angeles.
Director/choreographer/playwright DAVID BRIDEL is the new head of the MFA acting program at the School of Dramatic Arts at the University of Southern California. He replaces Andrew J. Robinson, who recently stepped down to focus on his stage and screen career. (He will continue to teach at USC).
