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2 months ago
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In the third major shake-up of leadership in New York’s non-profit theater world in recent months, the Roundabout Theatre Company has announced that Tony Award-winning director Christopher Ashley will become its Artistic Director in July 2026 for the 2027-28 season.
Ashley, the Artistic Director for 17 years in a celebrated run at La Jolla Playhouse in California, will collaborate with Scott Ellis, Roundabout’s Interim Artistic Director, for the 2026-27 season while Ashley honors his previous commitment with La Jolla. Ellis, who has filled the slot since the 2023 death of his colleague and friend Todd Haimes, will continue solo through the 2025-26 season.
The changes were announced today by the Roundabout’s Board of Directors. The news comes just 15 days after Lincoln Center Theater, another one of the city’s top major non-profit theatrical companies and producers, announced that director Lear deBessonet had been appointed Artistic Director, effective this coming June when longtime AD André Bishop concludes his 33-year-tenure. Along with deBessonet, director Bartlett Sher will take on the newly created Lincoln Center Theater role of Executive Producer.
In June, another major non-profit, Second Stage Theater, announced that Evan Cabnet, from Lincoln Center Theater, would become the company’s new Artistic Director, effective fall 2025. The news was especially stunning: Cabnet replaces Second Stage’s Carole Rothman, who founded the company in 1979. In an interview with The New York Times, Rothman said she was “negotiated out” of the company. “Let’s put it this way,” she said when asked how she felt about the development. “Five minutes after I won the Tony for Appropriate, I got a text from my friend Michael R. Jackson who said that was a great mic drop.”
Of today’s Roundabout news, Ashley said, “I am honored and exhilarated to step into the role of Artistic Director at Roundabout Theater Company. Under Todd Haimes’ leadership, Roundabout has become a home for an extraordinary array of artists, working in five beautiful theaters on and off Broadway. I look forward to collaborating with Scott Ellis on programming the 2026-27 season and joining Sydney Beers, Chris Nave and the superb staff full time in July 2026.
“As we navigate this moment of immense change in the American theater,” he continued, “I hope that Roundabout can be a town square, where urgent questions can be investigated, the joy of live theater can be shared, and we can together find community and hope.”
The Roundabout operates three Broadway venues – the Todd Haimes Theatre, Studio 54, and the Stephen Sondheim Theatre – and two Off Broadway spaces – the Laura Pels Theatre and the Roundabout Underground Black Box Theatre.
Ellis will continue his leadership responsibilities alongside Executive Producer Sydney Beers, Chief Advancement Officer Chris Nave, as well as Chief Administrative Officer Steven Showalter and the artistic staff including Director of Artistic Producing Nicole Tingir MacMillan and Director of Play Development Abigail Katz.
In collaboration with Ashley, Ellis, Sydney Beers and Chris Nave, the Board’s next step is to find a Managing Director to work with Ashley to lead Roundabout “forward in these ever-changing, ever-challenging times,” the board said.
Ashley’s selection followed a yearlong international search conducted by the board in collaboration with Management Consultants for the Arts, with “the goal of finding a passionate new Roundabout leader to build on and develop what Haimes created.
The intention, according to the board, “was to identify someone to help chart Roundabout’s ongoing course as a theater company, as an arts and culture leader in New York and as a vital member of the New York City community.” The Roundabout search committee included Board of Directors Kitty Patterson Kempner, Thomas E. Tuft, Lawrence Kaplen, Stephanie Kramer, Johannes Worsoe, LaChanze and Mary
C. Solomon.
Ashley’s impressive roster of new work premiering at La Jolla Playhouse includes current Broadway smash The Outsiders and Here There are Blueberries, the latter a hit Off Broadway last spring. Under Ashley’s leadership, La Jolla has also staged works by Tina Landau, Lisa Sanaye Dring, Joe Iconis, Sonya Tayeh, Anna Deveare Smith, Kimber Lee, and Charlayne Woodard.
As a director, Ashley has headed up La Jolla productions such as Come From Away, The Untitled Unauthorized Hunter S. Thompson Musical, Babbitt, Memphis, His Girl Friday, Glengarry Glen Ross, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, As You Like It, Freaky Friday and Xanadu. Some of Ashley’s Broadway directing credits included his Tony-winning work on Come From Away, as well as Diana, Memphis, Xanadu, Leap of Faith, Escape to Margaritaville, All Shook Up and The Rocky Horror Show.
During his tenure, 22 La Jolla Playhouse shows moved to Broadway.
At La Jolla, Ashley also spearheaded the Playhouse’s Without Walls (WOW) initiative, featuring a yearly free immersive and site-specific festival. He founded the DNA New Work Series, the Resident Theatre program and the BIPOC Directing Fellowship. During his tenure the Playhouse has presented the LatinX New Play Festival, moved to a paid internship program, and initiated the Accountability and Inclusion Alliance, a staff-led group whose mission is to create impactful solutions for a safe, equitable, and anti-racist community.
Ashley recently directed Come From Away for AppleTV+ and Diana: The Musical for Netflix. Other screen credits include the feature films Jeffrey and Lucky Stiff, and the American Playhouse production of Blown Sideways Through Life for PBS.
“Our gratitude to Scott Ellis, who immediately stepped in after Todd passed, whose first Roundabout production was She Loves Me in 1993, over 30 years ago, is infinite,” said Kitty Patterson Kempner, Board of Directors Chair. “Our confidence in Christopher Ashley is boundless. And we extend our deep gratitude to the entire Roundabout staff for the commitment and care they have demonstrated during this difficult time.”
Roundabout’s flagship Broadway home, the Todd Haimes Theatre on 42nd Street, is currently housing David Henry Hwang’s comedy Yellow Face starring Daniel Dae Kim and Ryan Eggold, directed by Leigh Silverman. Opening night is October 1.
