ATLANTA: Synchronicity Theatre has appointed Celise Kalke to be its new managing director. She will take up the position on Oct. 22. In June playwright Lee Nowell stepped down from the post to focus on a variety of creative projects, though she remains an artistic associate with the company. Virginia Nugent has since been serving as interim managing director.
“It’s an honor to join Rachel May, the Synchronicity board, and this great staff in the work of uplifting women and girls,” said Kalke in a statement. “I am humbled in this historic moment to support Synchronicity’s mission, and so excited to assume a leadership position in the Atlanta theatre community. Synchronicity is poised for growth, and I’m honored to grow my strategic thinking and management skills with this wonderful company.”
Kalke will work alongside producing artistic director Rachel May in deciding the company’s strategic development. She will direct the theatre’s financial and business operations and will work with the board of directors in creating and executing fundraising and growth strategies.
“Having Celise join us at this pivotal time in our history, as we move into the next phase of embodying our mission, is the perfect step forward,” said producing artistic director Rachel May in a statement. “Celise’s smarts and reputation are unparalleled, and she has deep collaborative roots in both the local and national theatre community. Beyond that, she is a strategic thinker, a visionary and a bridge-builder; the exact qualities we need in our new managing director. I cannot wait to stand shoulder-to-shoulder with her as we work with our stellar board of directors to get smarter, gutsier, bolder and bigger.”
Since 2005 Kalke has been the director of new projects/artistic programs manager at the Alliance Theatre, where she developed and grew the Alliance/Kendeda National Graduate Playwriting Competition and the Reiser Atlanta Artists Lab. Kalke has also been the director of the literary department at the Public Theater in New York City and the resident dramaturg at the Court Theatre in Chicago. In the late 1990s, Kalke was a staff dramaturg in the Julliard Drama Division. As a student at the Prague Theatre Academy, she was a member of Misery Loves Company, a Czech/English theatre collective, and worked with the Narodni Divadlo and Divadlo Pod Palmovkou.
Founded in 1997, Synchronicity Theatre aims to spark community connections and uplift the voices of women and girls through high-quality theatre, community outreach, and educational programming.
