Oregon Shakespeare Festival Welcomes New Development Director

The Oregon Shakespeare Festival has announced Torrie Allen as their new Director of Development. Allen will arrive in Ashland in mid-September to begin leading fundraising efforts at the Festival.

Allen comes to OSF from Alaska Public Media (AKPM), where he has served as chief officer of development and marketing since 2012. Allen was a member of AKPM's senior leadership team, with shared responsibilities for all major organizational initiatives, including the development and management of annual operating and capital budgets for Alaska's largest broadcast media company. Allen increased individual giving by 13% within his first two years at AKPM.

"I'm deeply honored and thrilled to be moving to the beautiful state of Oregon to join one of the greatest performing arts institutions in the nation," said Allen. "On the national arts scene, OSF is second to none and plays a huge role in modeling innovation and progressiveness. It will be a supreme privilege and joy to work with OSF's exceptional staff, and stakeholders across the nation, to help further enrich its monumental legacy."

Prior to his tenure at Alaska Public Media, Allen was general and artistic director of Anchorage Opera from 2006 to 2012, and was director of the National Patrons Council for Americans for the Arts from 2004 to 2006.

"We are extraordinarily fortunate to have Torrie joining the leadership team here at OSF," said Executive Director Cynthia Rider. "On a professional level, his broad fundraising and management skills will be invaluable to us, and on a personal level he absolutely lights up a room with his intelligence, humor and warmth. Our current and future donors are in for a treat when they get to know Torrie."

Allen holds a B.A. in political science from University of California at Los Angeles, as well as a degree with honors from The Boston Conservatory, where he did undergraduate and graduate study in opera. He has also completed chief executive training at Harvard Business School, University of Texas at Austin and the University of Michigan.

Founded by Angus Bowmer in 1935 and winner of a 1983 Tony Award for outstanding achievement in regional theatre, the Oregon Shakespeare Festival has grown from a three-day festival of two plays to a major theatre arts organization that presents an eight-month season consisting of 11 plays that include works by Shakespeare as well as a mix of classics, musicals, and new works. The Festival also draws attendance of more than 400,000 to almost 800 performances every year and employs approximately 575 theatre professionals. In 2008, OSF launched American Revolutions: the United States History Cycle, a 10-year cycle of commissioning new plays that has already resulted in several OSF commissions finding success nationwide.

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