LOS ANGELES: Company of Angels has named Selene Santiago to be its new managing director. The company, the oldest nonprofit professional theatre in Los Angeles, is dedicated to producing work reflective of the city’s diverse culture.

“Selene embodies our mission and we are thrilled to have her bring her unique experience as a theater artist and arts manager to support us as we continue to develop local theatre artists and create work that depicts Los Angeles,” said artistic director Armando Molina in a statement.

Santiago is a cofounding teatrista of the theatre troupe Tongue in Chíc*ana, and a founding member of theatre and art space CASA 0101. She has worked with various theatres and artists as a creative and arts manager across Los Angeles, Santa Barbara and the Bay Area, at such organizations as Cornerstone Theater Company, El Teatro Campesino, Latino Theater Company and others. She is an alumnus of the National Association of Latino Arts & Culture’s Leadership Institute, recipient of La Opinion’s “Mujeres Destacadas” award in Arts & Culture, and an Ahmanson Foundation Arts Management Fellow. She is a graduate of Claremont Graduate University in Arts Management, Cal State LA in Theatre and UC Berkeley in Theater + Chicano Studies.

“I am totally jazzed at the opportunity to work with the longest-lived repertory theatre company in Los Angeles that is committed to exploring and providing a platform for Los Angeles’s diverse stories,” said Santiago in a statement. “I look forward to collaborating with the CoA team and our communities on furthering creative engagement.”

The Company of Angels was recently granted $52,000 from the California Community Foundation to cover the company’s core operating expenses for the next two years. This grant will allow Santiago to further the company’s mission to broaden theatre to communities that are under-represented in Los Angeles.