Executive Director Ellen Richard to Exit A.C.T.

Ellen Richard, Executive Director of American Conservatory Theater (A.C.T.), announced today that she will be departing the Bay Area's premier nonprofit theater organization after five years at the helm. Richard will depart in spring 2015.

"I am very proud of what American Conservatory Theater has accomplished during my five-year tenure," said Richard. "I will always be grateful for the honor of helping lead this organization through an exciting period of growth and financial success."

"Ellen has done a remarkable job of growing our institution and taking it to a new level," says A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff. "Her passion and dedication for the arts will have a lasting impression on A.C.T. and the San Francisco Bay Area community at large. We are grateful for her leadership at A.C.T. and wish her the very best in her next artistic endeavor."

Nancy Livingston, Chair of A.C.T.'s Board of Trustees, adds: "The Board of Trustees will be forever indebted to Ellen for her phenomenal ability to translate the dreams and aspirations of the organization into reality. Her creative approach to problem solving and her considerable business acumen have earned her enormous respect from her colleagues, as well as community leaders. Her legacy is appreciable, and all our good wishes go with her."

During her tenure as executive director at A.C.T., a Tony Award-winning producing theater and training institution, Richard was responsible for brokering the purchase of The Strand Theater, A.C.T.'s soon-to-be-opened cutting-edge performance venue located in San Francisco's Central Market corridor. In addition, Richard was a key member of the fundraising team that closed the $34 million campaign in three years and oversaw the design and construction for the rebuild project. The Strand Theater will include a 283-seat theater, a 120-seat event and performance space, and a café. The venue will allow A.C.T. to present new work and emerging artists, expand education programs, and produce theater in versatile and innovative ways.

In 2011 Richard brought her innovative vision for a new performance space to life with The Costume Shop Theater, A.C.T.'s intimate 49-seat black-box venue located in San Francisco's Central Market corridor. In addition to utilizing The Costume Shop Theater as the home for A.C.T. Master of Fine Arts Program productions and performances by participants in A.C.T.'s education and community programs, A.C.T. has been able to provide no-cost rehearsal and performance space at The Costume Shop to nearly 40 local arts organizations, including Theatre Rhinoceros, Magic Theatre, Lorraine Hansberry Theatre, and Campo Santo Theatre Company. This program has been made possible through a combination of grants secured by Richard.

Following the strategic plan developed by the board of directors, Richard guided the expansion of A.C.T.'s community education programs-led by A.C.T. Director of Education & Community Programs Elizabeth Brodersen-which has included the addition of long-term intensive residencies with Downtown High School, Ida B. Wells High School, Bessie Carmichael Elementary School, Hilltop Special Services Center, and the Tenderloin Boys & Girls Club, and a significant increase in the number of students served by A.C.T. With Brodersen, Richard also launched Back to the Source, an immersive professional-development program specially designed for teachers and teaching artists who use theatrical techniques in the classroom. Taught by A.C.T. professional artists, faculty from A.C.T.'s Conservatory, and national leaders in arts education, this comprehensive course gives educators from around the nation the opportunity to take creative risks, bring new insight to their classroom practice, and ignite their passion for theater in collaboration with some of this country's finest artists and educators.

Richard conceptualized and led the creation of The San Francisco Semester, an all-new study-away program bringing undergraduate students from across the world into an active, ongoing engagement with the eclectic and energetic arts community of San Francisco and the Bay Area. With a focus on the practical aspects of the craft of acting and life in the professional theater, the 15-week program features a 17-credit core curriculum enhancing students' undergraduate studies with rigorous, upper-level classes in acting styles, voice/dialects, physical theater, and devised (student-created) work.

In 2014, through a collaborative effort with A.C.T. Director of Institutional Giving and Strategy Stephanie Mazow, Richard helped create the concept and vision for Stage Coach, a community-based, participatory theater program that is aimed at engaging San Franciscans in telling un- and undertold stories and supports multigenerational audiences in the creation of theater. Programming for Stage Coach, made possible by a $600,000 grant from The James Irvine Foundation, includes stand-alone theatrical experiences at street fairs and festivals throughout the city-including 3rd on Third, Off the Grid, and Sunday Streets-as well as ongoing residencies in three San Francisco neighborhoods: Central Market/Tenderloin, Bayview-Hunters Point, and Mission/Excelsior.

With A.C.T. Artistic Director Carey Perloff, Richard created the Women's Leadership Project, a partnership with the Wellesley Centers for Women to conduct a study on the gender equity of leadership opportunities in the nonprofit American theater. The hope of the study is to address chronic infrastructure problems so that the pipeline for leadership talent is more open, inclusive, and representative of the field. Once the study has been released, A.C.T. will reach out to key partners, including Theatre Communications Group, Theatre Bay Area, and the League of Resident Theatres, as well as other major arts organizations, to help disseminate findings to further the conversation.

Richard's latest initiative was the creation of the American Musical Theater Conservatory, A.C.T.'s first dedicated musical-theater training program offering adults (19+) an accredited, six-week session of rigorous, interdisciplinary musical-theater training, launching in the summer of 2015.

Prior to A.C.T., Richard was the executive director of New York City's Second Stage Theatre, where she helped grow the institution and brokered the purchase agreement of the Helen Hayes Theatre, which is a Broadway performance space for the company. From 1983 to 2005, Richard was the managing director of Roundabout Theatre Company, where she helped build the nonprofit company from bankruptcy to its current success. Richard headed up the conceptualization and creation of the three permanent Roundabout stages - Studio 54, the American Airlines Theatre, and the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. During her tenure at Roundabout, Richard earned six Tony Awards as producer for Cabaret, A View from the Bridge, Sideman, Nine, Assassins, and Glengarry Glen Ross.

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