RICHMOND, V.A.: Virginia Repertory Theatre has appointed Amy Wratchford as interim managing director. Effective immediately, Wratchford joins the company’s current leadership team alongside artistic director of community Desiree Roots, artistic director of education Todd D. Norris, and artistic director of programming Rick Hammerly. Co-founding managing director Phil Whiteway was removed from his position in August.
“Amy has been immersed in the Virginia theatre scene for 13 years and has a history with Virginia Rep, having participated in several of our strategic planning processes,” said board chair Martha Quinn in a statement. “She has an incredible passion for the arts, deep compassion for the people who make a theatre run, and a keen understanding of the role we play within our community. Her expertise in interim theatre leadership, financial analysis, and organizational structure assessment and reorganization is precisely what we need right now as we chart an exciting future and launch a national search for our next managing director.”
Wratchford served as managing director of the American Shakespeare Center for more than a decade. In 2021 she launched The Wratchford Group, an arts management consultancy with regional theatre clients throughout the country. Wratchford was previously the managing director of Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta, and also spent a decade in New York acting, directing, and producing. Wratchford holds a BFA in acting from the New York University Tisch School of the Arts and an MFA in performing arts management from Brooklyn College. She is simultaneously serving in a hybrid capacity as interim managing director at the Barter Theatre and will transition more fully into her role at Virginia Rep once Barter’s new managing director is announced in the coming months.
“I have a deep respect for Virginia Rep’s roots in the community that can be traced to its founding organizations—the Barksdale Theatre and Theatre IV—and I am incredibly excited to help set the organization up for success in this new era of non-profit theatre,” said Wratchford in a statement. “In my 20+ years managing nonprofit theatres, I’ve handled multiple transitions, and delight in helping organizations and their staff joyfully and effectively fulfill their mission. Virginia Rep’s needs and my skills are a good match.”
Virginia Repertory Theatre is a regional professional theatre company headquartered in downtown Richmond and is one of the largest performing arts organizations in Central Virginia, with four venues and an educational touring arm. Virginia Rep seeks to entertain, challenge, and uplift its communities through the power of live theatre. As of 2022, Virginia Repertory Theatre had an approximate budget of $4.6 million.
