LITTLE ROCK, ARK.: Arkansas Repertory Theatre  has named William Trice as its executive artistic director, a newly created position. Trice succeeds former producing artistic director John Miller-Stephany, who stepped down in May. Trice has served as a consultant for the theatre since December and will fully assume his new role in August.

“After the year we’ve been through with suspending productions and reevaluating our entire operations, we’re thrilled to have Will join our team,” said board chair Ruth Shepherd in a statement. “He is uniquely positioned with his vast experience and ties to central Arkansas to lead at this specific point in the Rep’s history.”

Trice has served as a producer for more than 30 productions on Broadway, the West End, and national tours. He is a three-time Tony Award winner for All the Way, the Steppenwolf Theatre Company’s Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, and Porgy and Bess. Other Tony-nominated projects include Fiddler on the Roof, the Royal Shakespeare Company’s Wolf Hall, You Can’t Take It With You, The Glass Menagerie, and Gore Vidal’s The Best Man. Before his producing career, Trice was a business analyst with the management consulting firm McKinsey & Company, an artistic administration associate with the Metropolitan Opera, and a strategic growth associate with alternative asset managers D.E. Shaw & Company. He holds degrees from Southern Methodist and Northwestern Universities.

“I couldn’t be more excited to join the Rep’s staff, board, supporters, and audiences, as we continue its rich tradition of entertaining and inspiring theatre in Arkansas,” Trice said in a statement. “The way this organization has rallied over the past year shows how much the Rep is cherished, and it’s an honor to have a role in mapping its future.”