O’Neill Theater Center names new executive director
Tiffani Gavin will be the new executive director of the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center in Waterford.
Gavin is only the fifth executive director in the O’Neill’s 56 year history. Her immediate predecessor, Preston Whiteway, ran the center for 16 years. The center notes that Gavin is the second woman and the first person of color to hold the position.
Gavin’s experience cuts across just about every type of modern American theater. She has worked for the Marquis Theatre on Broadway, the Public Theater off-Broadway, the American Repertory Theatre in Cambridge, Massachusetts, Blue Man Group, Clear Channel Entertainment and has overseen national tours from “Phantom of the Opera” to “Spamalot.”
The O’Neill will introduce Gavin (who began work last week before the official announcement of her hiring was made) through a series of online “Town Hall events,” including an exclusive one for O’Neill members on Sept. 22 at 6 p.m. and two for the general public on Sept. 23 at 3 p.m. and Sept. 24 at 6 p.m.
The O’Neill center is dedicated to the development of new plays and musicals. Its summertime National Playwrights Conference and National Music Theater Conferences hosted the first public readings of August Wilson’s “Fences” and “The Piano Lesson,” the musicals “Avenue Q” and “Nine,” and many other award-winning shows. The O’Neill, which also holds annual conferences on puppetry and cabaret performance and runs the year-round National Theatre Institute training program for actors and directors, has served as a model for other major new-works programs, including the Sundance Institute.