- 2023-10-09
Michael Barker named managing director
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
MARIN THEATRE COMPANY NAMES
MICHAEL BARKER
AS NEW MANAGING DIRECTOR
MILL VALLEY, CA—Marin Theatre Company’s Board of Directors announced today that it has named Michael Barker as the 46-year-old nonprofit theater company’s new managing director. Currently the general manager of Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA, Barker will assume his full-time duties at MTC on February 25, 2013.
“I am thrilled that our Board has unanimously selected Michael as our new managing director,” artistic director Jasson Minadakis said. “He is one of the most exciting new leaders in the field of arts administration. His commitment to MTC’s mission and values, his extensive training and his impressive national network make him ideally suited to help lead us into our next stage of growth and development. Michael’s desire to help us strengthen and improve our commitment to provide a home to Bay Area artists, as well as local and national playwrights, make him welcome addition to our team. I am enthusiastically looking forward to working with him.”
Barker succeeds Sandra Weingart, who has been serving MTC as interim managing director since the July 2012 departure of producing director Ryan Rilette, who is now the producing artistic director of Round House Theatre in Bethesda and Silver Spring, Maryland.
“After a comprehensive nation-wide search, the Board is delighted to welcome Michael into the MTC family,” said MTC Board of Director president Brian Haughton. “His passion for our artistic and educational work, combined with his business acumen and seemingly boundless energy are just the ticket to sustain MTC’s upward trajectory in the industry both locally and nationally.”
Holding an MFA in theater management from Yale School of Drama and an MBA from Yale School of Management, Barker has served numerous theater companies across the country in a variety of capacities – including the Antaeus Company in Los Angeles as managing director, Yale Repertory Theatre as associate managing director, Seattle Repertory Theatre as managing director fellow and Court Theatre in Chicago as associate director of marketing.
“I am excited to join Jasson and the Board at this exciting time for MTC,” Barker said. “I am looking forward to reaching out to Marin County, the Bay Area and beyond to broaden the reach and impact of the important productions and arts education work that is already happening here in spades.”
Barker’s appointment culminates a five-month national search process, which considered significant candidate pool that represented a cross section of geography, experience and diversity. The search was conducted by MTC’s Search Committee, chaired by board member Dave Chapman.
ABOUT MICHAEL BARKER
Michael Barker (Managing Director) joins MTC in February 2013. He is currently the general manager of Laguna Playhouse in Laguna Beach, CA, where he has produced or presented more than thirty plays and events over the course of two seasons. Previously, he was the managing director for the Los Angeles classical theater ensemble The Antaeus Company, which received, during his tenure, numerous Ovation awards (including best production) and the LA Drama Critics’ Circle Award for Best Season. Before moving to California, Barker was associate managing director at Yale Repertory Theatre and managing director of Yale Summer Cabaret; and he produced the third annual Carlotta Festival of New Plays, which included plays by Tarell Alvin McCraney and Amy Herzog. He was Seattle Repertory Theatre’s 2008 Managing Director Fellow, apprenticed to Benjamin Moore, who has managed SRT for nearly 30 years. Prior to graduate school, Barker was associate director of marketing for Court Theatre in Chicago and also worked with Goodman Theatre, American Theater Company, Sansculottes Theater Company and the Playground Theater. He holds an MFA in theater management from Yale School of Drama and an MBA from Yale School of Management. At Yale, he was the recipient of the Daniel and Helene Sheehan Scholarship for theater management.
Photo available by request. Credit: Carolyn Potz
ABOUT MTC
Founded in 1967, Marin Theatre Company is the Bay Area’s premier mid-sized theater and the leading professional theater in the North Bay. We produce a six-show season of provocative plays by passionate playwrights from the 20th century and today in our intimate 231-seat proscenium theater. We are committed to the development and production of new plays by American playwrights, with a comprehensive New Play Program that includes two nationally recognized annual playwriting awards, new play readings and workshops by the nation’s best emerging playwrights and a leadership position in the National New Play Network. Our numerous education programs serve more than 6,000 students each year.
PRESS CONTACT
Sasha Hnatkovich, Communications Director
(415) 388-5200, ext. 3313 | email
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