Artistic Director/Producer Susan Bernfield (s/her) got New Georges going after the commercial acting class she was taking rapidly transformed into a colloquy on feminist actor frustration. It was 1992. She’d never met a living playwright. Now, she has! To say the least. And she is one: produced, commissioned, or developed by (among others) EST/Sloan and First Light Festival, New Harmony Project, People’s Light & Theatre, O’Neill National Playwrights Conference, Huntington Theatre Company, Playwrights Horizons, Caltech/Pasadena Playhouse, 24 Hour Plays, Jewish Plays Project, Adirondack Theatre Festival, Ice Factory Festival, Magic Theatre and, of course, New Georges. She serves as President of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (A.R.T./New York) and President of the National Theatre Conference; on the board of The Assembly and the advisory council of the Drama League’s Beatrice Terry Residency; was a founding board member of the Indie Theatre Fund; is a co-founder/original cohort member of The Pool, a pop-up theater company; and is the recipient of OBIE and Lilly awards. Here’s more Susan in The Record.
Managing Director/Producer Jaynie Saunders Tiller (s/her) came to New Georges a decade or so ago after trying on organizations of various sizes and realizing she liked being strategically small (org-wise) and collaborating with artists directly! Before landing here, she worked at A.R.T./New York, the service and advocacy organization for New York City’s not-for-profit theaters; and before that, she worked for several years in the artistic office at Dallas Theater Center, where she co-produced the Fresh Ink/Forward Motion Series, a series of new works. Currently, Jaynie is an adjunct faculty member at Marymount Manhattan College. She has previously taught at Brooklyn College (her alma mater, too) and Montclair State University and has served on panels for the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Brooklyn Arts Council, A.R.T./New York and Theatre Communications Group.
Associate Director/Producer Deadria Harrington (s/her) came to New Georges about 6 years ago as the line producer on Alligator and didn’t want to leave! She left her museum day job and joined the team officially in 2017. Passionate about developing new work by artists of color she’s also one of the Producing Artistic Leaders at OBIE Award winning The Movement Theatre Company and has worked independently with artists all over the city; even participating at the TED Conference with one! A constant learner, Deadria has participated in artEquity’s National Facilitator Training, was a Time Warner Foundation Fellow of the 2012-2014 Producers Lab at Women’s Project Theater, and a Next Generation Leader of Color at the 2014 Latinx Theatre Commons National Convening. Dedicated to serving the field at large she’s worked as a consultant with artEquity and SITI Company and is the proud Co-Board Chair at A.R.T./New York.
Fresh out of undergrad and interning on Theatre Row, New Play Advocate Sonya Sobieski (s/her) volunteered to run box office for one of New Georges’ very first productions. Susan kept in touch and encouraged her playwriting from the start, through Sonya’s tenure as Playwrights Horizons Literary Manager and her jump to an MFA at Brooklyn College and beyond. Sonya is thrilled to have come full circle and now help Susan and New Georges champion adventurous theatermakers. Sonya has taught playwriting and dramaturgy at Hunter College and the New York University School of Professional Studies. She continues to write plays (mainly for young audiences) and make puppet films (for adult audiences) and see a lot of theater.
Matt Ross PR, press rep
Michael Levinton/Levinton Ledger, financial services
Mary Sormeley, auditor
Ian Allen/Gold Rush Creative, marketing consultant
JJ Lind, strategic planning consultant
Liz Dreyer, process facilitator and consultant
Nicole Lewis, branding and graphic design
SPECIAL THANKS to 30 years of essential collaborators, including Sarah Cameron Sunde, who long helped steer this ship… Jim Baldassare, ace press rep and photographer… Jessica Bauman, Garland Hunter, Barbara Pitts McAdams, key compatriots and early associate directors… Maxine Kern, Ellen Melaver, Emily DeVoti, Kara-Lynn Vaeni, literary managers reading across time… Rehana Lew Mirza, who expanded our staff and our org as a TCG mentee… Sam Tresler, tech director, magician of impossible plays, Guy Friday… Noah Scalin, graphic designer who gave us butterflies… Catherine Davies, early managing hand… Greer Goodman, Colleen McQuade, those famous co-founders met in commercial class… John Bentz, Nela Wagman, the Theater Labrador-ians… Lucy Alibar, Jess Chayes, Portia Krieger, who envisioned a Jam and started us Jammin… Alexandra Aron, Jessica Bauman, Jess Chayes, Cusi Cram, Emily DeVoti, Laura Eason, Catherine Filloux, Jennie Greer, Emma Griffin, Lauren Helpern, Anne Kauffman, Boo Killebrew, April Matthis, Emily Morse, Rebecca Patterson, Rehana Lew Mirza, Charise Castro Smith, Sonya Sobieski, Beatrice Terry and Kate Alice Walat, members of the Kitchen Cabinet, an artist council (2001 to 2013)… Jenny Lyn Bader, Carol Ballock, Bruce Barnes, Jessica Bauman, Roger Berkowitz, Catherine Bernath, Audrey Bernfield, Adrienne Brodeur, Mary Ann Doyle, Erica Ecker, Amy Friedman, Stefanie Kaufman, Ellen Lancaster, David Markus, Jan Ohye, Michael Osso, Ellen Pollock, Jenny Schwartz, Nick Schwartz-Hall, Felicia Stingone, Miriam Weiner and Cheryl Whaley have all been members of our board
SARAH HUGHES directs Renae Simone Jarrett’s DAPHNE at LCT3 beginning October 7
MARY GLEN FREDRICK‘s EDIT ANNIE has West Coast premiere at Crowded Fire in San Francisco, September/October 2023
HEIDI SCHRECK‘s new translation of UNCLE VANYA directed by LILA NEUGEBAUER announced for the Vivian Beaumont next spring
EMMA HORWITZ & BAILEY WILLIAMS‘ Audrey Residency project TWO SISTERS FIND A BOX OF LESBIAN EROTICA IN THE WOODS, directed by TARA ELLIOTT, to be in 2024 Exponential Festival
ANNE KAUFFMAN directs Rachel McAdams’ Broadway debut in Amy Herzog’s MARY JANE at MTC’s Friedman Theater in the spring
TASHA GORDON-SOLMON writes book/lyrics for FOUNTAIN OF YOU in 2023 NAMT Festival of New Musicals
HELEN BANNER‘s WESTPHALIA hits Luna Stage (artistic director ARI LAURA KREITH!) October 19 to November 12
NORMANDY SHERWOOD invites you into the guts of the theater in PSYCHIC SELF DEFENSE, at HERE September 12 to 30
EMMA HORWITZ‘s MARY GETS HERS premieres with The Playwrights Realm at MCC September 11 to October 7
ZARINA SHEA‘s LET’S CALL HER PATTY stars Rhea Perlman in its premiere at LCT3
LYDIA BLAISDELL, ASHLEY OLIVE TEAGUE‘s Jam-initiated gerstl took the easy way out in New Ohio’s final Ice Factory festival
MJ KAUFMAN co-writes book of A TRANSPARENT MUSICAL at Center Theater Group/Mark Taper Forum with Joey Soloway
EISA DAVIS‘ BULRUSHER, directed by NICOLE A. WATSON, to be co-produced by Berkeley Rep and the McCarter Theater in 2023-24 season
JESS CHAYES directs The Assembly’s IN CORPO at Theatre Row
JEN SILVERMAN‘s SPAIN announced for Second Stage 2023-24 season
ruth tang, CAITLIN SULLIVAN, LIZA BIRKENMEIER, TARA AHMADINEJAD write & direct in Clubbed Thumb’s 26th Summerworks
MARY ELIZABETH HAMILTON‘s SMART premieres at EST
JULIA IZUMI‘s REGRETFULLY, SO THE BIRDS ARE premieres with Playwrights Horizons and WP Theater
NEENA BEBER, DIPIKA GUHA are co-executive producer and supervising producer, respectively, on THE MARVELOUS MRS. MAISEL Season 5
Keep it rolling, back in time… click HERE for the rest of the list!
More artist exploits monthly in #ngmashup @newgeorges on Instagram and Twitter – follow!
Board
Susan Bernfield, from the top
Hilary Bettis, since 2022
Morgan Brill, since 2009
Annie Chanler, chair, since 2011
Deadria Harrington, secretary, since 2022
Miranda Haymon, since 2022
Rachel Karpf, since 2023
Danielle Porcaro, since 2021
Alisa Schierman, treasurer, since 2019
Jaynie Saunders Tiller, since 2023
Funders
The Howard Gilman Foundation
The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation New York Theater Program
The Shubert Foundation
The Edgerton Foundation New Play Award
Venturous Theater Fund of Tides Foundation
BOLD Ventures
Beech Street Foundation
New York Community Trust
New York Community Trust COVID-19 Response & Impact Fund
Emma A. Sheafer Charitable Trust
Axe-Houghton Foundation
Off-Broadway Angels
John Golden Fund
Lucille Lortel Foundation
The ART/New York Creative Space Grant Supported by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation
National Endowment for the Arts
New York State Council on the Arts
New York City Department of Cultural Affairs
The City of New York Mayor’s Office of Media and Entertainment NYC Women’s Fund
New Georges is a member of the Alliance of Resident Theatres/New York (ART/New York), the service organization for New York City’s nonprofit theaters; Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization; and a participant in The Indie Theater Fund, a foundation that supports the independent theater community in New York City.
this is what we mean by them and what they mean to our work
Experimentation: In how we support artists across disciplines and in the work they make here.
Community: A mind meld of women (cis and trans) and nonbinary artists, building together and advancing through nonpatriarchal practice.
Flexibility: Nimble artistic, producorial, and managerial structures that reflect the ways artists work and the fact that every project’s needs are singular.
Ambition: Work that moves our field and art form forward and experiences that resonate throughout artists’ careers.
Beer: A casual culture of camaraderie, trust, and fun—an oasis in a competitive field.
always a work in process
At New Georges, equity is the active and dynamic process through which we strive to live in the best possible world. It permeates our values and practices, encouraging a culture of respect that empowers all people—including those historically underrepresented because of their gender, race/ethnicity, age, ability, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression, religion, socioeconomic, educational or citizenship status—to achieve their creative potential. We expect our community and collaborators to join us in challenging inequity by embracing these values and expressing them in their everyday interactions.
New Georges was founded in the wake of the Anita Hill hearings on the proposition that producing women is a political act; our practices are inherently nonpatriarchical and intersectional.
MORETop: Polly Lee, Brian Demar Jones in LEAP AND THE NET WILL APPEAR by Chana Porter, directed by Tara Ahmadinejad, 2019. Photo: Marina McClure