Corrib Theatre has announced that Justine Nakase will step into the role of artistic director in January 2022, to succeed founding artistic director Gemma Whelan.
"One reason I have chosen this moment to step down," said current artistic director
Gemma Whelan, "is meeting Justine Nakase and recognizing that she is a perfect fit to continue Corrib's legacy and to grow and expand the company in new directions."
Justine Nakase said, "I am honored to be stepping into the role of artistic director at Corrib Theatre. Corrib's programming is exciting and diverse and I am committed to continuing Corrib's mission of representing marginalized Irish voices, especially emerging theatre makers of color. I am also excited to expand our partnerships both here in Portland and in the larger Irish theatre community."
A theater scholar and maker, Nakase lived in Ireland for ten years before moving to Portland in 2019. She received her PhD in race and Irish performance at the National University of Ireland, Galway and currently teaches at Portland State University. She is also the coa?'editor of the twoa?'volume edited collection The Golden Thread: Irish Women Playwrights, 1716-2016, published by Liverpool University Press.
Gemma Whelan said, "It is ten years since the idea of Corrib was formed and we launched the company with a staged reading for an invited audience. Several years later, Adam Liberman joined me as managing director and we now have a vital company that we are proud to pass on. Adam and I have been working with our board of directors on a succession plan and to ensure a thoughtful transition supportive of the new leadership, and we are actively searching for a new managing director. We will both continue to support Corrib on the resource council, and to lead the annual theatre tour to Ireland. I will continue to work as a freelance director and to spend time on writing projects."
Born in Ireland, Whelan lived and directed in the Bay Area for many years, where she was the founding Artistic Director of Wilde Irish Productions. When she moved to Portland she founded Corrib Theatre, where she directed James X by
Gerard Mannix Flynn, Eclipsed by
Patricia Burke Brogan, How to Keep an Alien by Sonya Kelly, Four Last Things by Lisa Tierneya?'Keogh, Quietly by
Owen McCafferty, Belfast Girls by Jaki McCarrick, The Testament of Mary by Colm Tóibín, Our New Girl by
Nancy Harris, Chapatti by Christian O'Reilly, Little Gem by
Elaine Murphy, The Hen Night Epiphany by Jimmy Murphy, St. Nicholas by
Conor McPherson, and A Night in November by
Marie Jones. She has also directed at Artists Repertory Theatre, Profile Theatre, Milagro Theatre, CoHo Theatre, Boom Arts, and Portland Center Stage's Just Add Water (JAW) Festival. She is an award-winning filmmaker and a published novelist, and a member of Stage Directors and Choreographers Society (SDC).
Corrib Theatre's mission is to bring Irish playwrights' unique perspective on oppression and empowerment, and conflict and resolution to Portland in order to change our world for the better. The theatre celebrates Ireland's dramatic transformation in the recent decades of the 21st century and its emergence as a world leader in social and progressive arenas. Corrib Theatre engages, inspires, entertains, and challenges audiences with theatrical productions dealing with universal issues filtered through the Irish experience, with a focus on women, minorities, and lesser-known voices.
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