Evan Cabnet Named Artistic Director Of Broadway’s Second Stage, Taking Over For Departing Founder Carole Rothman
Evan Cabnet, currently Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3, will be Second Stage Theater’s new Artistic Director beginning in September, Second Stage trustees announced today. Cabnet will officially launch his first season of programming in fall 2025.
Carole Rothman, Second Stage’s current artistic director who in 1979 founded the renowned New York theater company that would eventually produce such acclaimed projects as Dear Evan Hansen, Next To Normal, This Is Our Youth and The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee, announced last September her plans to step down.
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Rothman will continue in her position through August 2024. Interim Artistic Director Bennett Leak will oversee the Company’s upcoming 46th season.
“I think the audiences and creatives who make up the communities of Broadway, Off Broadway, and American theater at large have so much to celebrate in Evan’s appointment as the new leader of Second Stage,” said Jacobs-Jenkins, whose play Appropriate was produced at Second Stage’s Hayes Theater last fall and recently won the Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play. “Carole Rothman has done a legendary job building up Second Stage as a real temple for the art of contemporary American playwriting and I cannot imagine a more exciting and worthy successor than Evan. I don’t know another man – let alone leader – as passionate, knowledgeable, ethical, insightful and kind as Evan, especially when it comes to advocating for the theater – and the many different kinds of folks who make it.”
In a statement today, Cabnet said, “I am excited and humbled to bring my passion for developing, nurturing, and championing new work to Second Stage, one of New York’s most vital and influential homes for contemporary theater. As my mentor Andre Bishop says, we are living in a golden age of American playwriting, and Second Stage’s incredible history, and the home Carole Rothman has created for artists, sits firmly at the center of this inspiring and culturally rich moment.”
Cabnet added that he hopes “to honor her legacy as one of the truly great leaders of the American theater, and am looking forward to helping write the next chapter for such an extraordinary organization.”
Cabnet’s appointment was announced by The Board of Trustees of Second Stage Theater.
“In taking on the search for a new Artistic Director, our 13-member committee went into the process understanding one certainty. We would never replace Carole Rothman,” said Kevin Brockman (Head of the Artistic Director Search Committee and Board Co-Chair) and Terry Lindsay (Board Co-Chair). “How can you replace a founding artistic director who had spent 45 years building a powerhouse theatrical institution? Instead, we focused our efforts on identifying the most talented, forward-thinking, creative mind who Is as passionate about our mission and as dedicated to championing new theatrical voices as we were. We wanted someone to shape and inspire our next 45 years of growth and success. And through a very exacting and arduous process, where we met and had in-depth discussions with dozens of potential candidates, our efforts quickly coalesced behind one person…Evan Cabnet.”
“From the start, Evan stood out amongst his peers,” said Brockman and Lindsay. “He has a vast knowledge of and appreciation for American playwrights, and has spent his career championing new voices, giving opportunities to those who might not otherwise have their works showcased. He is one of the smartest and most ethical people in our community, and is beloved and admired by everyone with whom he’s worked. Just as important is his commitment to and belief in an equitable, diverse and inclusive workplace, both in front of and behind the footlights. It’s simply part of his DNA. Collaboration is key with Evan, but he’s not shy about stating opinions and is comfortable in the knowledge that the buck ultimately stops at his desk. We honestly don’t know how we got this lucky, but we’ll certainly take it. Evan is the future of Second Stage, and we can’t wait to see where he leads us.”
Cabnet is a theater director and writer, and since 2016, has served as the Artistic Director of LCT3, Lincoln Center Theater’s home for new artists and audiences. During his tenure, LCT3 produced twenty productions, including Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over, which transferred to Broadway and had the distinction of being the first play to open after the pandemic. Other productions that premiered under his leadership include Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Marys Seacole, and Aya Ogawa’s The Nosebleed, among others. Plays commissioned, developed, and produced under Cabnet’s leadership have gone on to be seen on stages through regional theaters, at universities, and in London.
For over twenty years, Cabnet has worked as a director on and off Broadway, regionally and internationally. He has collaborated with such writers as Jacobs-Jenkins, Stephen Sondheim and Donald Margulies, among others. He is a former Artistic Associate at the Roundabout Theatre Company, a founding member of the Ars Nova Writers Group, and a former Resident Artist with Richard Foreman’s Ontological-Hysteric Theater.
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