Goodspeed announces new leadership team

EAST HADDAM — After an extensive national search, Goodspeed Musicals’ Board of Trustees announced today that they have selected Donna Lynn Hilton as the new artistic director and David B. Byrd as the new managing director of the two-time Tony Award-winning theater. Hilton and Byrd will succeed Michael Gennaro, Goodspeed’s executive director, who retired at the end of 2020, according to a statement.

Donna Lynn Hilton arrived at Goodspeed Musicals in 1988 and has been a creative force at the organization ever since. For the past thirteen years, Hilton has been Goodspeed’s highly respected Producer, responsible for guiding productions and musical development at the Goodspeed Opera House and The Terris Theatre. During her tenure, she led the expansion of Goodspeed’s Festival of New Musicals and the creation of the Johnny Mercer Foundation Writers Grove at Goodspeed Musicals. Her work has impacted the development of new musicals and revivals not only on Goodspeed’s stages, but in regional theaters across the country, on Broadway, and the United Kingdom, earning her an international reputation as a leader in the field.

David B. Byrd’s career in the professional regional theater has spanned 20 years with his most recent position as managing director of Virginia Stage Company in Norfolk, Virginia. Prior to his work in Norfolk, Byrd was managing director of the Clarence Brown Theatre at the University of Tennessee in Knoxville, where he introduced a new play program and produced a novel collaboration with the Knoxville Symphony Orchestra. He also served as adjunct professor in the UT-Knoxville Department of Theatre. No stranger to Connecticut, he has held leadership positions at Yale Repertory Theater (associate managing director) and Westport Country Playhouse (director of marketing) and is a graduate of the Yale University School of Drama. Byrd has demonstrated a keen ability to manage complex institutions with limited resources and will be an excellent partner with Hilton.

Upon learning of Michael Gennaro’s retirement plans earlier this year, the Goodspeed Board of Trustees decided to change the leadership model from one executive director to the partnership of an artistic director and managing director, as is most common in regional theaters across the country. Hilton, as artistic director, will lead the creative aspects of the organization while Byrd, as managing director, will focus on administrative and financial management. Both will share fund-raising responsibilities. The search for Goodspeed’s new artistic director and managing director was conducted by a committee comprised of Goodspeed trustees with assistance from Thomas Hall of Albert Hall & Associates.