JUNEAU, ALA.: Perseverance Theatre has announced that Joshua Midgett will be its new managing director. As Midgett assumes the role, Art Rotch will transition from executive artistic director to artistic director. Midgett will visit the company next week, meeting with Perseverance staff, board, artists, and other stakeholders in Anchorage and Juneau, and will work out the details of his transition to full-time work in Juneau by mid-October.
“I can’t imagine one person doing both of those jobs, as wonderful and as capable as Art is,” Midgett said in a statement. “I’m looking forward to working with Art as a partner, so that both sides of that coin”—the business and the art of running a theatre company— “can get the attention they deserve.”
Midgett is an up-and-coming nonprofit arts administrator who lived in Juneau for five years in the 1990s and has served as the general manager of the Contemporary American Theater Festival since 2015. He received his M.A. in arts management and a certificate in international arts management from American University, where one of his faculty mentors was Jeffrey Hermann, a former Perseverance manager. Midgett has also studied international business, tourism management, and theatre at Victoria University in New Zealand and double-majored in theatre and economics at Keene State College. His work spans across the country, working in production and company management for Utah Shakespeare Festival, Glimmerglass Festival, and GALA Hispanic Theatre, among others.
Midgett views the position as a homecoming. “There’s kind of an overwhelming nostalgia that I really don’t feel anyplace else,” Midgett said in a statement. “I’m excited to be a part of an organization that is truly integrated into the community.” Over the years, he has felt a strong connection with Juneau and connected with people linked to Perseverance, including Rotch and mentor Germann.
Midgett’s responsibilities will include hiring and managing staff, overseeing daily operations, staying on top of industry-wide trends and challenges, and turning budget shortfalls into surpluses. His appointment comes as Perseverance hits its 40-year milestone and is currently staging its financial comeback.
“This is a really tricky time,” Rotch said in a statement. “It’s going to be important to have someone as talented as he is, and as capable as he is. Someone needs to come into work every day focused on supporting the people in the trenches. He’s a really high-energy dude, and this”—managing a nonprofit, professional theatre in a unique position on the American stage—“is what he wants to do.”
“The community can see that Perseverance is moving in the right direction,” development director Erica Stone said in a statement. “Having such a strong managing director coming on board should give donors even more confidence that the company will be good stewards of these funds. It’s great news for us.”
