FAYETTEVILLE, ARK., and PRINCETON, N.J.: TheatreSquared has announced that longtime executive director and producer Martin Miller will depart the company in September. Miller will take on the role of executive director of the McCarter Theatre Center.
“McCarter is one of the great American arts centers and Princeton is a special place,” Miller said in a statement about his appointment to McCarter. “It’s a singular privilege to partner with artistic director Sarah Rasmussen, the board, the talented staff, and, most importantly, with this community to help launch its exciting next stage.”
“In just over a decade, Martin and artistic director Bob Ford have driven transformational growth,” TheatreSquared board president Todd Simmons said in a statement. “From the pages of The New York Times to stages across the country, TheatreSquared is now a name known and respected throughout the industry. We’ll miss Martin profoundly, but we are just as deeply thankful for his indelible contribution to Northwest Arkansas’s cultural landscape.”
Simmons will lead an executive transition committee to gather input from staff and key stakeholders. The committee will announce their next steps in August, prior to Miller’s departure. Miller will begin his tenure at McCarter on Sept. 7. McCarter’s interim managing director, Susie Medak, will continue to lead the theatre this summer.
“I’m excited to partner with Martin as we thoughtfully connect with audiences and grow this beloved institution,” McCarter’s Rasmussen said in a statement. “We are thrilled to align Martin’s track record of getting big ideas off the ground with McCarter’s strategic plans, including our signature collaborations with Princeton University and community partners.”
Miller joined TheatreSquared at the end of its third season in 2009 after serving as associate producer at Chicago Shakespeare Theater. He helped grow the theatre’s attendance and fundraising while producing 135 plays and developmental workshops and growing the staff. Miller also supervised the fundraising, design, and construction of the theatre’s new permanent home, then TheatreSquared’s shift to streaming protections at the onset of the pandemic. Under Miller’s leadership, TheatreSquared’s annual revenues have exceeded expenses, growing to a $7.5 million annual budget. The theatre also brought home Arkansas’s first Obie Award, as well awards from the Black Action Collective and LatinXNA.
“Co-leading TheatreSquared has been a privilege, a joy, and an ever-rewarding adventure,” Miller said in a statement. “It is wonderful to know that generations of Northwest Arkansans will walk through these doors and experience remarkable art in a space where they truly belong. I know that for TheatreSquared, the best is yet to come.”
TheatreSquared strives to offer bold new plays in an intimate setting, welcoming more than 80,000 community members as Arkansas’s largest theatre. The playwright-led company is a leading laboratory for new work, and offers far-reaching access and education programs and an all-day café. As of 2022, the theatre had a budget of approximately $7.9 million.
The McCarter Theatre Center is a multidisciplinary creative and intellectual hub offering theatre, music, dance, spoken word, and family and educational programs for all ages. McCarter leaders with the values of justice and joy and is celebrated for developing new work. As of 2022, the theatre had a budget of approximately $14.3 million.
