Alley Theatre Board Announces Five-Year Contracts with Gregory Boyd and Dean R. Gladden

Alley Theatre Board President Rob Reedy, the Managing Partner of Porter Hedges LLP, announced at today's Annual Board Meeting that Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean R. Gladden signed new five-year contracts with the Alley beginning fiscal year 2011-2012 and continuing through fiscal year 2015-2016. Gregory Boyd has been the Alley Theatre's Artistic Director since 1989. Dean R. Gladden joined the Alley Theatre as Managing Director in 2006.??"I am very happy to announce that Greg and Dean have agreed to sign new five-year contracts with the Alley," said Alley Theatre Alley Theatre Board President Rob Reedy.  "Combined they have about 45 years of experience heading major resident theatres, making them two of the most experienced  leaders of a resident theatre company in the U.S.  During the last five years, they have increased the Alley's earned revenue 44 percent, increased contributed revenue 76 percent, eliminated an accumulated deficit of $575,000 in 2006 and created an accumulated operating surplus of over $1 million. Over this period we have seen the resident company excel in such productions as Cyrano de Bergerac, Amadeus and Our Town. We have experienced spectacular productions like The Gershwin's An American in Paris and Wonderland and world premieres like Treasure Island, Intelligence-Slave and A Weekend With Pablo Picasso. Plus, during this past season two of our world premieres, Gruesome Playground Injuries and Wonderland, opened in New York."

"Houston is an extraordinary place, and an extraordinary community that grows more interesting and exciting every year," said Artistic Director Gregory Boyd. "The Alley is one of the major treasures in our city - to our audiences and to the artists who work here.  And today the Alley has never been stronger - building on its long tradition, and bringing about, especially in the last few seasons, a renewed sense of innovation and creativity from everyone - board and staff.   I'm honored, privileged and excited to continue as Artistic Director."??"The award winning (Tony Award & Texas Medal of Arts) Alley Theatre is one of the flagship theatre companies in the United States and we are honored to continue to lead this important institution for the city of Houston," said Managing Director Dean R. Gladden.??Gregory Boyd (Artistic Director) At the Alley Theatre he has directed Wonderland (premiere), The Gershwins' An American in Paris (premiere), Jekyll & Hyde (premiere and first national tour), Treasure Island (premiere), Cyrano de Bergerac, Hitchcock Blonde, Hapgood, The Pillowman, The Invention of Love, Rock ‘n' Roll, Three Sisters, In the Jungle of Cities, After the Fall, The Greeks, Macbeth, and A Midsummer Night's Dream, among others. Recent productions outside the Alley include Travesties (Sam Waterston, Tom Hewitt) at Long Wharf, Our Town (HAl Holbrook) at Hartford Stage, Design for Living (Marisa Tomei, Campbell Scott, Steven Weber) at Williamstown. He is co-author of The Civil War (Tony Nomination, Best Musical). During his tenure, the Alley has risen in national and international prominence, winning the Special Tony Award and experiencing record growth in its Houston audiences, while also transferring its productions to major European Festivals (including two in one season at the Venice Biennale), to Broadway, and on tour to 40 American cities. Boyd's addition of artistic associates such as Edward Albee, Robert Wilson, Frank Wildhorn, and Vanessa Redgrave and the late Corin Redgrave, and his commitment to maintaining a resident company of actors has made the Alley unique among American theatre companies. At the Alley, Mr. Boyd has produced over 100 new productions of the widest ranging repertoire in the country, and his Alley premieres have been nominated for eight Tony Awards - among them the premieres of Not About Nightingales by Tennessee Williams (Alley, London, Broadway, director Trevor Nunn), Jekyll & Hyde, (Alley, National Tour, Broadway), The Civil War (which he also co-authored). New Alley productions have included: Shakespeare's Roman Plays (with Vanessa and Corin Redgrave); Robert Wilson's productions of Hamlet, When We Dead Awaken and Danton's Death (with Richard Thomas); Ellen Burstyn in O'Neill's Long Day's Journey Into Night and Tony Kushner's Angels in America (Parts 1 & 2) both directed by Michael Wilson, David Cromer's productions of The Farnsworth Invention, The Clean House, and Orson's Shadow, and premieres by Rajiv Joseph (Gruesome Playground Injuries), Kenneth Lin (Intelligence-Slave), Keith Reddin (Synergy), Eve Ensler (Lemonade), and Alley Artistic Associates Edward Albee (The Play About the Baby), Horton Foote (The Carpetbagger's Children), Ken Ludwig (The Gershwins' An American in Paris, Leading Ladies), and Frank Wildhorn (Jekyll & Hyde, Wonderland and The Civil War). In addition, Boyd directed the recordings of "The Civil War" and "Jekyll & Hyde" for Atlantic Records. Boyd has served as Panelist for the National Endowment of the Arts, the Texas Commission on the Arts and the Massachusetts Council for the Arts. He has taught on the faculties of Carnegie-Mellon, Williams College, the University of Houston, and the University of North Carolina, where he headed the Professional Theatre Training Program. He was educated at the University of California, Berkeley, where he is a Distinguished Alumnus, and at Carnegie-Mellon.?
Dean R. Gladden (Managing Director) is in his fifth season with the Alley Theatre where he is responsible for the administrative, financial, marketing, facilities and development aspects of the Theatre. His career in the performing arts spans over 30 years. Prior to joining the Alley, he was Managing Director at The Cleveland Play House for 19 years. He has negotiated the rights to 60 world and American premieres and established international exchanges with the Czech National Theatre in Prague, the Hungarian National Theatre in Miskolc, the Slovak National Theatre in Bratislava and The New Experimental Theatre in Volgograd, Russia. Mr. Gladden holds a BA in Music from Miami University and a MA in Urban Arts Administration from Drexel University. He also graduated from the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program in Strategic Perspectives in Non-profit Management. He currently serves on the Executive Committee and the Board of the Houston Downtown Alliance, is a board member of the Greater Houston Convention and Visitors Bureau and an American Leadership Forum Fellow. He was past president of The Rotary Club of Cleveland and the Cleveland Rotary Foundation and is a current member of the Rotary Club of Houston. He has served on the Executive Committee of the League of Resident Theatres and was Vice President of the National Corporate Theatre Fund. Gladden has served on panels for the National Endowment for the Arts, Ohio Arts Council, Wisconsin Arts Council, Kentucky Arts Council and Texas Commission on the Arts. He has taught Arts Management classes at Case Western Reserve University, Cleveland State University, Bowling Green State University, University of Houston and University of Akron, where he was director of the graduate program in Arts Management. He has lectured nationally for the American Council for the Arts, the Association of Performing Arts Presenters, the National Association of State Legislators and the American Dance Festival. He has also conducted Arts Management workshops in Budapest, Hungary, under the sponsorship of The United States Information Agency.

ABOUT THE Alley Theatre?The Alley Theatre is a professional resident theatre company under the direction of Artistic Director Gregory Boyd and Managing Director Dean Gladden. It is one of the few American Theatre companies that support a company of actors, designers, artisans and craftspeople throughout the year. Productions are built and rehearsed in a 75,000 square foot state-of-the art facility, one of the largest of its kind, adjacent to its two-theatre complex in downtown Houston. For more information, visit alleytheatre.org.

 

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