Kevin Maifeld Named Interim Managing Director of Intiman Theatre;

Greg Kandel of Management Consultant for the Arts to Guide Intiman Board on National Search for Successor to Outgoing Managing Director Laura Penn

SEATTLE— Intiman Theatre announces that Kevin Maifeld, former managing director of Seattle Children’s Theatre and founding director of the Master of Fine Arts in Arts Leadership program at Seattle University , is joining Intiman as its interim managing director. Maifeld will work with the company during its management transition in the spring of 2008. Laura Penn , managing director for the past 14 seasons, will leave Intiman on March 31 to assume her new position as executive director of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers in New York .

Maifeld will work with Intiman part-time effective February 1, overlapping with Penn and then consulting with artistic director Bartlett Sher and the Intiman Board and staff on Theatre’s management, development and fundraising efforts until a permanent successor is named. The national search is being directed by Greg Kandel, founding partner of Management Consultants for the Arts, who guided the Intiman Board in the search process that culminated in the hire of Bartlett Sher. The Intiman Search Committee is chaired by Trustee Cynthia Huffman and vice chaired by past Trustee Joel Bodansky.

Kevin Maifeld is currently senior consultant in the Seattle office of Arts Consulting Group. In addition to his consulting work, he is the founding director and professor of the Master of Fine Arts in Arts Leadership program at Seattle University . He previously served as managing director of the Seattle Children’s Theatre and the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He has more than 20 years of experience in arts management, financial analysis, development and fundraising, strategic planning, marketing, consulting and teaching.

“Leadership searches are always exciting opportunities, and the Intiman Board is poised to build on its already impressive track record in this area,” says Maifeld. “As a subscriber and an admirer of Intiman, I am pleased to work with them during what promises to be an extremely competitive search.”

“Intiman’s Board and administration have long been admirers of the great work Seattle Children’s Theatre has produced under Linda Hartzell’s artistic leadership and Kevin Maifeld’s management,” states Susan Leavitt, Intiman Board President. “We are planning a very rigorous search process, and it is extremely fortuitous that while Kevin has chosen to go into academia, he is doing some consulting as well and will be working with us during this transition period.”

Intiman received the 2006 Tony Award for Outstanding Regional Theatre. It produces classics and world premieres, and serves as an advocate and catalyst for civic dialogue and community building in the Puget Sound region and nationally. Recent world premieres include Kent Gash’s adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son, which premiered as part of Intiman’s American Cycle series of classic stories and community programs; Craig Lucas’s Prayer for My Enemy and Singing Forest; The Light in the Piazza by Lucas and Adam Guettel , based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer; and Joan Holden’s adaptation of Nickel and Dimed, based on the nonfiction book by Barbara Ehrenreich.

Intiman gratefully acknowledges the following for their institutional support: The Paul G. Allen Family Foundation, ArtsFund, The Boeing Company, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Intiman Theatre Foundation, Kreielsheimer Remainder Trust, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Microsoft Corporation, Nesholm Family Foundation, The Norcliffe Foundation, PONCHO, Safeco, The Shubert Foundation, The Seattle Foundation, WaMu, and Wells Fargo Bank. Additional funding is received from Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, City of Seattle ; 4Culture; Metropolitan King County Council and Washington State Arts Commission.