NEW YORK CITY: Manhattan Theatre Club has announced that Kwame Kwei-Armah will become the theatre’s artistic advisor during the 2023-24 season. Kwei-Armah will remain in his role as artistic director of the Young Vic in London, and will work with MTC AD Lynne Meadow and the MTC artistic staff, advising on programming and future planning. After this past season’s successful co-production on The Collaboration of Manhattan Theatre Club and the Young Vic, Meadow and Kwei-Armah are planning future productions together. Ruben Santiago-Hudson, who has been Meadow’s artistic advisor since 2020, will remain a vital part of her artistic consulting team, which also includes director Daniel Sullivan.
“I’m so excited to continue working with Kwame, having had a joyful experience with him at MTC this past season,” said Meadow in a statement. “Kwame has been a great leader at Baltimore Center Stage and London’s Young Vic, in addition to his successful writing and directing career. Working with Kwame on the MTC/Young Vic production of The Collaboration, I admired his expansive creativity, charisma, and enormous talent.”
Kwame Kwei-Armah is British actor, playwright, director, and broadcaster. In 2018, he was made artistic director of the Young Vic, where he has directed Twelfth Night and Tree. From 2011 to 2018, Kwei-Armah was the artistic director of Baltimore Center Stage, where he directed Jazz, Marley, One Night in Miami, Amadeus, Dance of the Holy Ghosts, The Mountaintop, An Enemy of the People, The Whipping Man and Things of Dry Hours. As a playwright, Kwei-Armah’s works include Tree, One Love, Beneatha’s Place, Elmina’s Kitchen, Fix Up, Statement of Regret, Let There Be Love, and Seize the Day.
“My joy at the prospect of dancing with Lynne and the artistic team at MTC can barely be contained,” said Kwei-Armah in a statement. “This is a theatre that has much to teach me. And I’m here for it.”
Kwei-Armah was artistic director for the Festival of Black Arts and Culture in Senegal in 2010, where he conceived and directed the opening ceremony at Senghor National Stadium. He was also an associate director of the Donmar Warehouse. He was Chancellor of the University of the Arts London from 2010 to 2015, and in 2012 was awarded an OBE for Services to Drama.
The 2022-23 season marks Lynne Meadow’s 50th anniversary as artistic director of Manhattan Theatre Club. MTC seeks to develop and present new work in a dynamic, supportive environment; to identify and collaborate with the most exciting new as well as accomplished artists; and to produce a diverse repertoire of innovative, entertaining, and thought-provoking plays and musicals by American and international playwrights.
