Ariel Craft is Named Cutting Ball's Next Artistic Director

Rob Melrose and Paige Rogers started the Cutting Ball Theater almost 20 years ago with a goal of taking audiences to places that they don't normally go. Creating distinctly unusual performances was then and still remains a risky way to make theater, but the company is going strong after all these years.

As they looked ahead to Cutting Ball's 20th season, Melrose and Rogers decided it was time to turn Cutting Ball over to the next generation of Bay Area artists. Working closely the company's board of directors, Cutting Ball has selected Ariel Craft, an award-winning director and longtime collaborator, as its new Artistic Director. She will assume her role on July 1, 2018.

Craft, 28, who the San Francisco Chronicle has called "one of the most promising young directors in the Bay Area" has been associated with Cutting Ball since 2015, most recently directing Paula Vogel's Mineola Twins as well as a highly-acclaimed production of Phèdre, for which she won a Theatre Bay Area Award for Outstanding Direction.

"I could not be more excited about this journey ahead," said Craft. "It is a privilege to take the artistic reins of such a strong company. At a time when theater companies are often living month-to-month, Cutting Ball has a loyal base of donors and subscribers, thrives upon a thrilling set of core creative values, is critically acclaimed for artistic achievement, attracts artists from around the world, and has put down meaningful roots in the Tenderloin."

Laura Mason, the president of Cutting Ball's Board of Directors, said that the decision to hire Craft was a natural one. "Ariel is one of the most dynamic and creative theatre directors of any age in the Bay Area, and she has the potential to deeply engage the next generation of theatre audiences," she said.

Craft succeeds Paige Rogers, who founded the company with her husband Rob Melrose in 1999. Rogers assumed the artistic director role in 2015 to deepen and grow the company's operations, and to position the organization for the future.

Under Melrose's sixteen years as Artistic Director, the company went from producing one show a year to a establishing itself as a risk-taking theatrical company doing bold interpretations of classics with high production values and stunning designs as well as exciting experimental new work.

Under Rogers' leadership, Cutting Ball expanded its education program with young people living in the Tenderloin, she strengthened the company's outreach to corporations and foundations, and she helped guide a partnership with the city of San Francisco to make extensive physical improvements to Cutting Ball's theater, the EXIT on Taylor in the heart of San Francisco's Tenderloin neighborhood.

"Rob and I worked hard to put Cutting Ball on solid footing, but we also have other artistic goals that we'd like to pursue," said Rogers. "The great news is that Ariel is one of the most exciting and creative artistic minds anywhere. Bay Area audiences and Cutting Ball are really lucky to have her."

Melrose and Rogers will remain closely connected with Cutting Ball. Both will continue to serve on the company's board of directors, and Rogers will have a creative role in the 20th anniversary season.

Craft understands the challenge of succeeding a theater company's founder. "My aim is to build on Rob's and Paige's great work and to continue to take the kinds of artistic risks that have made Cutting Ball the unique haven it is for artists and audiences alike."