John Dias will be learning the ropes at Two River Theater, when he takes his post as the company’s new artistic director in August.
By TOM CHESEK
After a talent search spanning nearly five months, Red Bank’s Two River Theater has named an advocate for “bold new American plays” as its artistic director for the 2010-2011 season, the company announced yesterday.
John Dias comes to the professional stage troupe with a formidable folio of credentials that includes a 12-year stint as a producer and dramaturg with the New York Shakespeare Festival/Joseph Papp Public Theater. He is also the founder of a production company dedicated to bringing daring new works from around the world to New York, and has served on the nominating committee for the annual Tony Awards.
According to PR director Deeksha Gaur, Dias will be “spending time at the theater, getting to know the organization and meeting the local community” prior to his first official workday on August 16. He’ll also reportedly be moving to Red Bank from New York City before the start of the new season, which kicks off in late September with the ensemble piece Intimate Apparel.
Dias, 46, replaces Aaron Posner, the playwright and director whose productions of Macbeth and A Midsummer Night’s Dream brought national attention to the Two River brand — but whose contract was not renewed by the board last February. (Posner, who was not in the house for the opening night of his final TRTC project Orestes, departed prior to the conclusion of the contract).
As a producer and an educator with considerable experience in the classics — as well as a founder of the acclaimed companies Playwright’s Realm and Affinity Collaborative Theater — Dias was welcomed in a statement from TRTC board president Todd Herman as a person with “extraordinary talent and stature in the national theater community.”
In the announcement, Dias said he’s looking forward to carrying on the TRT’s tradition of “producing the classics in dynamic and powerful re-imaginings, as well as to being an incubator for daring new work.
“I want to make this theater a home for talented emerging and established artists—those who live in and around New York and many others who will come here from across the country to work with us—as we produce great plays and build the theaterÂ’s national reputation,” he said.
Company founder Bob Rechnitz said that Dias’ “vision for the theater is one in which every space, every room, every hallway is buzzing with the creative energy of artists.”
Dias, who has worked in the past with many of the people involved with the new season’s shows, will be overseeing a 2010-2011 schedule (selected and announced prior to his arrival) that ranges from George Bernard Shaw’s Candida to vintage Broadway hits and new works from 21st century scribes. Also on the agenda will be the selection of the following season’s slate of productions, the first under his direct programming and an endeavor that he’s gone on record as being “eager to begin planning.”
Subscriptions and individual tickets for the 2010-2011 season are available now via the TRTC website.
