Mary C. Huntington Stepping Down as Artistic Director of The Nora Theatre Company

Central Square Theater announces that Mary C. (Mimi) Huntington, Founding Artistic Director of The Nora Theatre Company, will step down. The 2012-13 Season marks the 25th year Huntington has helmed the award-winning theatrical arts organization.

"The company has reached a certain maturity and we now have our own home in Central Square, and it is a good time for me to pursue some other interests - before I get too much older!" Huntington remarked, "I believe that a transition to new artistic leadership will provide an opportunity to bring in new energy and ideas that will strengthen the mission and vision of The Nora and our partnership with Underground Railway Theater."

Reactions from the Greater Boston and New England Theatre Community recognized Mimi Huntington's contributions to the region's cultural landscape.

Tina Packer, Founding Artistic Director of Shakespeare & Company:

"Mimi Huntington is a tenacious, insightful, generous theater practitioner, who has served The Nora Theatre Company from its baby beginnings to the healthy thriving child it now is. She managed the move to a new space, guided the artistic vision, and built the collaborations necessary for The Nora to flourish with each step - a powerful achievement. I have deep personal gratitude to Mimi because she made the support of women artists one of her goals in life, benefitting myself and other members of Shakespeare & Company, and I hope whatever she does next she will take us all with her! She has been and I trust always will be a good friend and inspiration.

Spiro Veloudos, Producing Artistic Director of The Lyric Stage Company of Boston:

"I have enjoyed knowing and working with Mimi for longer than either of us want to admit. From the fledgling days of NEAT and our working on several area wide contracts, I have appreciated her guidance, intelligence and wit. Without her diligent work I wonder if we would ever have had a NEAT/AEA agreement. Her tenacity is also demonstrated in her work with The Nora Theatre Company. Through difficult times trying to establish performance space to the new home in Central Square she had a vision and was able to make it happen. I will personally, as I am sure my colleagues will, miss her. I wish her all good luck in her future endeavors."

Kate Snodgrass, Artistic Director of Boston Playwrights' Theatre:

"The quality of Mimi's artistic vision is incomparable, and her stepping down is a real loss to our theater community. Whether she is overseeing a large-cast The Cherry Orchard or a minimalist but heartbreaking Molly Sweeney, the production is always first-rate--simple, elegant, and moving, just like Mimi herself. God is in the details, and Mimi

has understood this forever. That's why I love her, for everything she can teach me, and I will miss her artistic insights terribly. Dare I say it? Don't go, Mimi!"

In 1988, Mimi Huntington founded The Nora Theatre Company with two colleagues from Brandeis University, where she studied theater arts. Collaborating with Eric C. Engel and Francine Beth Ferraro, The Nora's first productions were presented at the former Lyric Stage space on Charles Street in Boston. After residencies at Harvard University and Boston Playwrights' Theatre, Huntington realized her dream of a permanent theater home in Cambridge, when the company moved into Central Square Theater with Underground Railway Theater in 2008.

With Mimi Huntington at the helm, The Nora Theatre Company has produced 69 productions to date. Of these thirty have been Boston or New England area premieres and eight have been world premieres including Alan Brody's Operation Epsilon (currently playing through April 28). During her tenure, The Nora has been committed to introducing audiences to new plays, area premieres, and revivals of the great works of the modern era.

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