Artistic Director E.M. Davis and Managing Director Rose Hamill To Exit Broken Nose Theatre

The Board of Directors of Broken Nose Theatre today announced Artistic Director E.M. Davis and Managing Director Rose Hamill will step down from their leadership roles effective September 1, 2022. The Board, in conjunction with the staff and ensemble, will conduct an extensive search for new leadership in the coming months.

In a collective statement, BNT's Board of Directors stated, "Over the last four years, E.M. and Rose have navigated Broken Nose through multiple transitions and challenges, from our first leadership transition to a global epidemic. We are grateful for both their leadership of the company during this time and their combined fifteen years of involvement with the company and wish them both well in their future endeavors. We look forward to partnering with the staff and ensemble in the coming months to collaboratively chart a future path for BNT."

The Board of Directors adds, "We recognizes that this transition, coupled with our recent assessment and work around racial equity, access, diversity and inclusion (READI), presents an opportunity to reimagine the current structure of the organization in the context of our recent growth. The Board will be establishing a Transition Committee comprised of and co-led by members of the Board, staff and ensemble. Over the next 4 - 6 months, this committee will take a collaborative and inclusive approach to not only identify and select the future artistic leadership of the company, but also envision and plan the future of BNT as one of Chicago's premier economically accessible arts institutions"

"BNT will hold our Annual Gala on August 7, 2022 and the ninth iteration of Bechdel Fest from August 28 - 31, 2022. We will be continuing our new play development into the fall through programming like Paper Trail and Off/Nights, and producing our next mainstage show in early 2023."

About E.M. Davis and Rose Hamill

E.M. Davis (they/them) joined Broken Nose Theatre at the end of 2013 after being an Associate Producer on the inaugural Bechdel Fest, before subsequently becoming the company's Casting Director. While in that staff position, they oversaw the casting for multiple editions of Bechdel Fest, as well as mainstage shows Kingdom, The Opportunities of Extinction, Human Terrain, A Phase (which they also penned) and the critically acclaimed productions of At The Table and Plainclothes, both of which went on to receive the Joseph Jefferson Award for Best Ensemble. In both cases, E.M. was one of the honored performers.

Rose Hamill (she/her) originally entered the BNT orbit in 2016, when she joined as the Stage Manager for the world premiere of A Phase mid-process. A year later, she similarly managed the booth during the entirety of both the original and remount runs of the award-winning At The Table. Following the remount, she officially joined the company in the newly created position of Company Manager in the fall of 2017.

In late Summer 2018, E.M. and Rose jointly took on their leadership roles at the beginning of the company's seventh season succeeding Founding Artistic Director Benjamin Brownson. During their tenure, they've led the organization through a top-down logo rebranding and website relaunch, while simultaneously transitioning the company into a brand-new structure, which included a staff (which, for the first time, received monthly stipends) and an ensemble of actors, designers and other multidisciplinary artists. They nearly doubled the size of the company, expanding the departments of Development, Literary, Casting and Marketing, creating brand-new positions along the way. They also co-organized the company's first-ever Annual Gala. The mainstage shows produced under their leadership went on to garner three Joseph Jefferson Awards, a trio of other nominations, two nods from the Black Theater Alliance Awards and the 2019 Osborn Award from the American Theatre Critics Association.

During the social reckoning that came in the wake of the murder of George Floyd and the demands of We See You, White American Theatre (WSYWAT), they co-spearhead the staff's efforts to create both short- and long-term goals towards becoming an antiracist organization that double their efforts in prioritizing DEI initiatives.

While leading the company through a global pandemic, they pivoted to almost two entire years of entirely digital programming, including three recorded Paper Trail readings, an entirely virtual Bechdel Fest lineup and the launch of an internal new-play development series called Off/Nights. In the final season of their tenure (2021-22), they returned with a full, four-show slate, which included two critically acclaimed audio plays and a pair of in-person productions, neither of which had a single performance cancelled.

About Broken Nose Theatre

Broken Nose Theatre is a Pay-What-You-Can theatre company. Founded in 2012, BNT was the 2018 recipient of the Emerging Theater Award, presented by the League of Chicago Theatres and Broadway in Chicago. The company has produced and developed 30 full-length plays (including 12 Chicago or world premieres) and over 60 new short plays through our annual Bechdel Fest. We strive to spark conversation, cultivate empathy, and amplify underrepresented voices, and are committed to making new, exciting and relevant theatre that is economically accessible to all audiences. For more information, please visit brokennosetheatre.com.

To post a comment, you must register and login.