ASC Announces New Managing Director, Begins Work 5/10

The American Shakespeare Center today announced that its board of trustees has selected Amy Wratchford to serve as its new managing director. She will begin work on May 10.

As the company's chief administrative and financial officer, Wratchford will oversee finance, marketing, development, and other business management functions of the $3 million Equity theater company and education center located in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley. Wratchford succeeds David Dreyfoos, who departed the company in December, 2009 to care for his family in Florida.

"Amy has a level of intelligence, passion, intuition, and determination that consistently impressed us throughout the interview process," said ASC Board Chair Dan Layman, who presided over the search committee. "I believe that her boundless positive energy, impressive track record of managing strategic initiatives, and extensive professional network will contribute substantially to our work together in the years to come."

Most recently, Wratchford served as managing director of Synchronicity Theatre in Atlanta, a theatre dedicated to supporting women artists, forging community partnerships, and developing new work. Previously, she worked in a number of capacities in theatre in New York City, including producer, director, and actor. She earned her bachelor's degree in Acting from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University and a master's in fine arts degree in Performing Arts Management from Brooklyn College.

Chosen from the largest pool of applications the ASC has ever received for its top administrative position, Wratchford impressed the ASC board with her commitment to the company's mission to recover the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare's theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education.

"I fell in love with Shakespeare, and the way the American Shakespeare Center produces it, in 1989 while watching the company, known then as Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, perform The Taming of the Shrew at the Winchester Little Theatre," said Wratchford. "They taught me that language can get under your skin and make you feel things you never anticipated. I am thrilled to help support this kind of visceral work."

About the American Shakespeare Center
The American Shakespeare Center, located in Staunton, Va., recovers the joys and accessibility of Shakespeare's theatre, language, and humanity by exploring the English Renaissance stage and its practices through performance and education. The ASC's Blackfriars Playhouse, the world's only re-creation of Shakespeare's indoor theatre, is open year-round for productions of classic plays, which have been hailed by The Washington Post as "shamelessly entertaining" and by The Boston Globe as "phenomenal...bursting with energy." Founded in 1988 as Shenandoah Shakespeare Express, the organization became the American Shakespeare Center in 2005 and can be found online at www.ASCstaunton.com.

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