Bartlett Sher Extends Contract

SEATTLE— Intiman Theatre Board President Susan J. Leavitt announces that Artistic Director Bartlett Sher has extended his contract through the end of the 2009 production season. Sher is currently in New York directing the first Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s South Pacific, which opens on April 3 at Lincoln Center Theater. He will direct the world premiere of Namaste Man, a play written and performed by Andrew Weems, at Intiman in the spring.

“Bart is an extraordinary artist,” said Leavitt. “His productions here and in New York confirm that he is one of the most vibrant, inventive and rigorous talents working anywhere in the country. The entire Intiman board is thrilled to extend his contract, and to be working so closely with him to set a course for the future that encompasses both the best opportunities for him and Intiman’s continued growth and stability.”

“Intiman is in an extremely healthy and wonderful place right now, with a fantastic season in front of us, and very strong subscription sales and fundraising successes,” said Sher. “The work that being done by the staff, board and advisors is excellent and I know will help us continue to build Intiman’s institutional capacities. Particularly in this time of transition, I am pleased to make this commitment and to be part of such a careful process of long-range planning.”

Intiman has recently embarked on a national search to identify a successor to Managing Director Laura Penn , who will leave Intiman on March 28 to assume her new position as Executive Director of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers in New York.

Kevin Maifeld, senior consultant of Arts Consulting Group, 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 working with Intiman as its Interim Managing Director 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 Sher’s hiring. The Search Committee is chaired by trustee Cynthia Huffman and vice chaired by past trustee Joel Bodansky.

Sher received a 2006 Tony nomination for his direction of Awake and Sing! by Clifford Odets and a 2005 Tony nomination for his direction of The Light in the Piazza by Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel. He made his Metropolitan Opera debut in 2006 with The Barber of Seville, and later this season he will direct the opera Roméo et Juliette for the Salzburg Festival. At Intiman, he has directed the world premieres of Prayer for My Enemy and Singing Forest by Craig Lucas (both also at Long Wharf Theatre); Nickel and Dimed, Joan Holden’s adaptation of the nonfiction bestseller by Barbara Ehrenreich; and plays by Chekhov, Wilder, Shakespeare, Goldoni and Tony Kushner. He received the Callaway Award for his production of Cymbeline, produced by Theatre for a New Audience, which was the first American Shakespeare invited to the Royal Shakespeare Company.

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.