Manhattan Theater Club Artistic Director Lynne Meadow to Step Down

Lynne Meadow, Artistic Director of Manhattan Theatre Club, has chosen to step into a new role as Artistic Advisor for the company. MTC’s Board of Directors will work with an external search firm to identify a new Artistic Director. 

Meadow was named Artistic/Executive Director of the fledgling nonprofit Manhattan Theatre Club in 1972. The mission statement she created on her first day of work reflected her desire to work with living American and international playwrights as a director and a producer, to present their plays at various stages of development, and to attract the finest talent with whom to collaborate in producing theatre. Under Meadow’s leadership, for 53 years, the company has held steadfast to her original artistic vision.

“I have loved and cherished creating my theatre,” said Meadow, “and I have dedicated myself, for over 50 years, to welcoming and working with the greatest talent in every aspect of our institution. It was my dream when I started in 1972 off-off-Broadway that the Manhattan Theatre Club would become a landmark in New York City. I am immensely proud of the extraordinary body of work so many gifted artists have built together, and I am looking forward to helping to continue the legacy of this great organization under the leadership of its new Artistic Director.”

David C. Hodgson, the Chairman of Manhattan Theatre Club’s Board of Directors, said, “For over five decades, Lynne has been an incredible force, not just at Manhattan Theatre Club, but in the American theatre. She has given us so many gifts, in the immense body of work MTC has produced and the many artists she has nurtured. The Board and I are very grateful for all the hard work she did to make her brilliant vision a reality. We are looking forward to MTC’s next act and are thrilled that Lynne will continue to advise us in the years to come.”

Chris Jennings, who began as MTC’s Executive Director in 2023, will partner with MTC’s new Artistic Director to helm the company. Jennings said, “It has been an immense honor and joy to be Lynne Meadow’s partner for the last two years. As a long-time admirer of hers, getting the opportunity to work alongside this theatre icon has only exceeded my wildest dreams. I am thrilled that she will continue to support a new Artistic Director and me as we continue to build on Lynne and Barry Grove's remarkable legacy.”

MTC originally occupied three floors of the Bohemian National Hall on East 73rd Street, which included a 150-seat proscenium theatre, a 100-seat cabaret, and rehearsal studios. Meadow was one of the leading figures in the off-Broadway movement, creating a standard of excellence that quickly gained acclaim and attracted audiences and artists alike.

In 1984, after the company’s first ten years, she and partner Barry Grove (whom she hired in 1975) moved MTC’s home base to New York City Center, where MTC continues to produce work on two stages. Nearly two decades later, they broke ground at Broadway’s Biltmore Theatre, which they opened in 2003. To date, MTC has produced 61 shows at its Broadway home, now named the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. During Meadow’s tenure, MTC has produced over 600 world, American, New York, and Broadway premieres.

Meadow has accepted every major award for the theatre on behalf of MTC—most recently receiving the 2025 Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play for Jonathan Spector’s Eureka Day. Awards earned by the company and its productions include, among many others: 7 Pulitzer Prizes, 31 Tony Awards, 52 Drama Desk Awards, and numerous NY Drama Critics Circle, Outer Critics Circle, Obie, Drama League, and Theatre World Awards. She has taught at Circle in the Square Theatre School, Stony Brook University, Yale University, Fordham University and New York University. The search for a new Artistic Director will be conducted by Spencer Stuart.