Arena Stage Announces Edgar Dobie As New Managing Director

Arena Stage Artistic Director Molly Smith announced that the Board of Trustees has appointed Edgar Dobie as the new Managing Director of the theater. With roots in non-profit theater management in the U.S. and Canada, Dobie is a Tony Award-winning commercial producer who will begin with Arena Stage at the end of March. Dobie succeeds Interim Managing Director Guy Bergquist, who led the theater after former Executive Director Stephen Richard left in Spring 2008 after 17 years with Arena Stage.

"Edgar comes to Arena as an experienced and seasoned Managing Director," comments Smith. "He has had a remarkable career with companies like Trinity Repertory in Providence, Rhode Island. Edgar is also sophisticated in the commercial theater and is able to bridge both worlds. We couldn't be more excited about welcoming him to Arena and Washington and know he'll be an instrumental leader during this important time in our theater's history."

Chairman of the Arena Stage Board Mark Shugoll adds, "Edgar Dobie has had great success in both the non-profit and commercial theater worlds. As Arena Stage prepares to open its new Mead Center for American Theater in September of 2010, these dual experiences will be hugely beneficial. He is truly the right person at the right time for Arena. The Trustees are greatly excited that he is coming on board."

"I could not be happier about joining Arena Stage as its new Managing Director," remarks Dobie. "Stephen Richard and Guy Bergquist leave big shoes to fill, and I look forward to building on the important legacy of this great company. From my first meeting with Molly I was impressed with her passion for American artists and the ambitious agenda she has described for Arena Stage, especially as we approach the opening of The Mead Center. The generosity, good humor and profound commitment revealed by the staff and board members, including Chairman Mark Shugoll and search committee leader Susan Clampitt, made this new job irresistible."

Edgar has enjoyed a career in public theater as Executive Director of Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, founding managing director of Toronto's Canadian Stage Company, managing director at National Arts Centre in Ottawa and Vancouver's New Play Centre. For six years he was president of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Company, and for the past three years he has been the North American Executive Producer of Riverdream. His Broadway producing credits include: Sunset Boulevard (Tony Award for Best Musical), Joseph and the Amazing Technicolour Dreamcoat, Paul Simon's The Capeman, The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, Boublil and Schonberg's The Pirate Queen and this season's new musical 9 to 5.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Molly Smith, Washington, D.C.-based Arena Stage has become the largest theater in the country dedicated to American plays and playwrights. Founded in 1950 by Zelda Fichandler, Thomas Fichandler and Edward Mangum, Arena Stage was one of the nation's original resident theaters and has a distinguished record of leadership and innovation in the field. With the opening of the new Mead Center for American Theater in 2010, Arena Stage will be a leading center for the production, development and study of American theater. Now in its sixth decade, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 200,000. For more information please visit www.arenastage.org.