Longtime MST Staff Member Named Associate Artistic Director

Longtime Main Street Theater (MST) staff member Andrew Ruthven has been named Associate Artistic Director of Main Street Theater. Mr. Ruthven has worked at MST since 2000 as Assistant Box Office Manager, Box Office Manager, Director of Audience Services / MainStage Company Manager, along with working as an artist over the years as lighting designer, stage manager, actor, and director (Mr. Ruthven is the director of the company's current production, The Weir, which opens March 16 and runs through April 7). "Andrew has been an integral part of our company for years and has truthfully already been performing the duties of an Associate Artistic Director," says MST Executive Artistic Director Rebecca Greene Udden. "I'm glad to be able to make it official." Mr. Ruthven's official new title is Associate Artistic Director / Director of Audience Services.

His Associate Artistic Director duties include assisting with casting; in partnership with the Artistic Director, negotiating offers to actors and designers; in collaboration with the Artistic Director, creating and managing the budget for production, actors, designers, and directors for the season; participating actively in season planning, reading, and recommending scripts for production; participating in short and long-term institutional planning; and serving as member of the Senior Staff.

Mr. Ruthven holds an M.F.A. from the University of Houston School of Theatre and Dance and a B.A. from the University of Texas. His local production credits include Main Street Theater: (Director) The Weir, Daddy Long Legs; The Revolutionists, Red Hot Patriot, Working, Magic Tree House: A Night in New Orleans, The Musical Adventures of Flat Stanley, Putting It Together, A Year with Frog and Toad, Into the Woods, Close Up Space, The Magic School Bus, Live!, Dog Act, It's Only Life, A Catered Affair, Breakfast at Eight (World Premiere), A Number, The Pie Dialogues (World Premiere), (Assistant Director) Caroline, or Change, Nine, (Actor) Mr. Pim Passes By, Urinetown, An Empty Plate in the Café du Grand Boeuf, Comic Potential, Seussical, Oh, Boy!, The Three-Cornered Hat, Lady in the Dark, The Trust, Hay Fever, The Mask of Moriarty, Sideways Stories from Wayside School, The Merchant of Venice, A Year with Frog and Toad, Junie B. Jones and a Little Monkey Business; Texas Repertory Theater: (Actor) Company; Unity Theatre: (Director) The Fantasticks, (Actor) Camelot; Theater LaB Houston: (Actor) Passion, Assassins; and Queensbury Theatre's opening production: (Director) Man of La Mancha.

About Main Street Theater

Now in its 43rd Season, Main Street Theater provides live theater experiences for all ages. The MainStage produces intellectually and emotionally engaging professional productions for adults in the heart of the Rice Village and operates under an Actors' Equity Association union contract; the Theater for Youth produces engaging productions based on children's literature for families and school groups, both in-house and on tour around Texas, reaching over 130,000 audience members each season; and we offer Education and Outreach programs on-site and at satellite locations around the Greater Houston area for youth aged 4 - high school. We work out of 2 facilities: our Rice Village home on Times. Blvd., and as part of the MATCH (Midtown Arts & Theater Center Houston) on Main Street.

Main Street Theater is a member of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for not-for-profit theaters, of Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (formerly ASSITEJ), the world theatre network of theatre for children and young people, and a founding member of Houston Arts Partners. Main Street Theater is funded in part by grants from the City of Houston through the Houston Arts Alliance, and the Texas Commission on the Arts.

Photo by RicOrnelProductions