Leadership

Over the past 12 seasons, Molly Smith has been instrumental in leading the reinvention of Arena Stage. From the programming for the architecture to the envisioning of the Kogod Cradle, Ms. Smith has focused her creative life on building this new Center for American Theater. This reinvention has been part of a major artistic change as well, into the production, presentation, development, and study of American theater that leads Arena into the 21st century. Ms. Smith has been a passionate leader in new play development for the past 30 years while at Arena Stage as well as at Perseverance Theatre in Alaska, the theater she founded and led for 19 years. She has commissioned or championed numerous world premieres, including Paula Vogel’s Pulitzer Prize-winning How I Learned to Drive and The Mineola Twins; Tim Acito’s The Women of Brewster Place; Moisés Kaufman’s 33 Variations; Charles Randolph-Wright’s Blue; Zora Neale Hurston’s lost American play, Polk County; Karen Zacarías’ Legacy of Light; and Passion Play, a cycle by Sarah Ruhl; some of which she has directed. She founded Arena’s downstairs series, which has read or workshopped some 60 plays, half of which have gone on to full productions. In 2009, two shows nurtured at Arena Stage (33 Variations and Next to Normal) moved to Broadway. Ms. Smith’s directorial work has also been seen at the Shaw Festival in Canada, Berkeley Rep, Trinity Rep, Tarragon Theatre in Toronto, and Centaur Theatre in Montreal and includes classics such as South Pacific, Mack and Mabel, Anna Christie and Cat on a Hot Tin Roof. Ms. Smith has served as literary advisor to Sundance Theatre Lab and formed the Arena Stage Writers Council, composed of leading American playwrights. An avid traveler, Ms. Smith brings artists of international renown to work at Arena Stage and has served as a member of the board of the Theatre Communications Group as well as the Center for International Theatre Development. She directed two feature films, Raven’s Blood and Making Contact, and received honorary doctorates from both Towson and American universities.

Edgar Dobie has enjoyed a career in public theater as executive director of Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, founding managing director of Toronto’s Canadian Stage Company, and managing director at National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Vancouver’s New Play Centre. For six years he was president of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Really Useful Company, and for the past three years he was the North American Executive Producer of Riverdream. His Broadway producing credits include: Sunset Boulevard (Tony Award for Best Musical), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Paul Simon’s The Capeman, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Boublil and Schönberg’s The Pirate Queen and the musical 9 to 5.