Artistic Director

Arena Stage (Arena) is looking for its next Artistic Director, a passionate leader with bold ideas on the future of theater and innovative storytelling, an inspirational community-builder who believes that great art makes for a greater society. Working in co-leadership with Arena’s long-serving Executive Producer, the Artistic Director will navigate the complexities of producing theater in a changing landscape with optimism, hope, and a love of the whole experience over individual glory. Arena Stage’s artistic leader will be energized by the opportunity to blaze the next path for one of the nation’s signature regional theaters and will embrace the foundations created by past artistic visionaries while adding new ideas and insights into the continuing evolution of Arena’s impact on local, regional, and national theater and culture writ large. As an accomplished artist with skills as a stage director or other relevant theatrical practice combined with an understanding of navigating the institutional complexities of a deeply respected and established cultural organization, Arena’s Artistic Director will ensure artistic excellence through a highly collaborative approach to leading teams with empathy, seeking insight from a diverse set of voices. As a highly visible and engaged public figure, Arena’s Artistic Director will have a talent for clear and captivating communication of values and vision and how they relate to all programmatic choices. With an artistic appetite for a variety of styles and genres, Arena’s Artistic Director will plan and execute from a place of joy with strong relationships in the theater community, also seeking new ways to invite people into a process as artists, allies, and advocates. A full position description may be found here: https://mcaonline.com/searches/artistic-director-arena-stage

Arena Stage was founded in 1950 by trailblazers Zelda Fichandler, Tom Fichandler, and Edward Magnum as one of the nation’s first significant regional theaters based in and for its community (the official corporate name of Arena Stage is Washington Drama Society, Inc.). Over seven decades, Arena Stage has evolved into a multifaceted cultural organism, a national center for theater, arts, and culture that has focused on a dedication to American voices and artists. More information is available at Arena Stage’s website at https://www.arenastage.org/.

Salary: $375,000