Victoria Nolan To Conclude Unprecedented Run At Yale

Victoria Nolan, Deputy Dean of Yale School of Drama, Managing Director of Yale Repertory Theatre, and Professor in the Practice of Theater Management, will step down from those duties on June 30, 2020, in order to work on other projects and spend more time with her family.

Victoria Nolan arrived at Yale in 1993 as Managing Director and Lecturer in Theater Management, and since then has directed the administration, production, finance, personnel, marketing, and outreach activities of the School of Drama and Yale Rep. She was promoted to Associate Professor Adjunct in 1996, to Professor Adjunct in 2001, and to Professor in the Practice in 2017; throughout her tenure, she has collaborated closely with three chairs of the Theater Management program-Joan Channick, Edward Martenson, and the late Benjamin Mordecai III-in student admissions and evaluation, faculty hiring, and the design of curricula. She served as Interim Chair of the department in 2005-06. She was appointed as the School's first Deputy Dean in 2002. When she steps down at the end of June, she will have been Managing Director of Yale Rep through more than 150 productions and for exactly half of the theater's 54-year history.

"The greatest joy of my time at Yale has been mentoring the extraordinarily talented students from whom I have learned every single day. To count them among the most cherished and trusted colleagues I have had the privilege to work alongside in the field is icing on a very rich cake," said Victoria Nolan. "The unique relationship between the School of Drama and Yale Rep has meant that there is always a new boundary to push; and we are lucky to have the support of a world-class university that allows us, in fact, expects us, to make those explorations. It is thrilling to watch our graduates carry on that charge as they continually reimagine the landscape of the American theater."

"Working closely with Victoria Nolan for the past seventeen years, I know that her commitment to supporting artistry and developing more effective management strategies is passionate and lasting-there have been no significant initiatives here in the last quarter century to which she was not a selfless contributor," said James Bundy, Dean of Yale School of Drama and Artistic Director of Yale Repertory Theatre. "Victoria will always make herself available to meet with students in all disciplines to discuss their concerns and questions about the profession. But she has understandably focused with particular intensity on the training of theater managers, promoting the habits of mind that have enabled so many of them to fulfill their potential in pivotal leadership roles across the country: in this arena, her legacy and influence will last for generations to come."

Prior to Yale, Victoria Nolan served in multiple leaderships positions at Baltimore Center Stage over the course of ten years, and then as Managing Director of Indiana Repertory Theatre for five years. She was on the Board of the Theatre Communications Group from 1992-1999, serving as Treasurer for four years, and she has been active in the League of Resident Theatres since 1993, on negotiating committees, the Executive Committee, and, since 2012, the Diversity Committee. She was an on-site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts for more than 20 years, and chaired multiple grantmaking panels at the NEA as well. In 2019, she was awarded the Kennedy Center Medallion for having dedicated her time, artistry, and enthusiasm to the development of the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. In Connecticut, Victoria co-founded the Arts Industry Coalition for Greater New Haven, and she received the Betsy L. Mahaffey Arts Administration Fellowship Award from the Connecticut Commission on the Arts. She received the Elm/Ivy Award for distinguished service to the community, jointly awarded by the University and the City of New Haven, in 2005.

A search for Victoria Nolan's successor will be announced at a later date.

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