Tarragon Theatre shakes up leadership
Arts centre gets new executive director
Tarragon Theatre has appointed Lisa Li as its new executive director, marking the latest leadership shakeup in the Toronto arts scene.
Li, currently serving as the managing director of Winnipeg’s Prairie Theatre Exchange, will step into her new role on June 24, Tarragon Theatre announced Thursday. She joins artistic director Mike Payette as co-leads of the company and will take over from outgoing managing director Andrea Vagianos, who departs after six seasons at the helm of the theatre.
“The opportunities at Tarragon are endless,” said Li in an interview. “It’s one of the major houses for developing and producing Canadian theatre. And it’s a company I’ve had my eye on for a while. I’ve been admiring their work and impact on the Canadian theatre ecology.”
Before moving to Winnipeg in 2021, the arts executive was a familiar face in Toronto’s theatre scene. Between 2016 and 2020, she produced more than 65 works with the Soulpepper Theatre Company. She also worked at the Shaw Festival and presently serves on the board of the Professional Association of Canadian Theatres.
Payette, who was appointed as artistic director of Tarragon Theatre in 2021, said Li comes to the organization with an understanding of the challenges the sector faces.
“She meets challenges head on — that has been her history — and she will be bringing that into practice at Tarragon,” Payette said in an interview. “She still thinks in terms of possibilities and inspiration.”
Li, who guided the Prairie Theatre Exchange through the pandemic reopening, said she believes Tarragon is in a phase of rebranding and regrowth.
She described Tarragon’s national mandate, to develop and nurture Canadian artistic voices, as both a challenge and an opportunity.
“We have a special way that we need to be serving the community that really sets us apart,” she said.
“At the same time, it is a challenge because the mandate means that, in this moment when one might believe that you need to be programming populist productions, Tarragon won’t necessarily have the same kind of titles at the ready for us.”
Her appointment comes after a six-month, nationwide search to fill the position. It follows a series of other leadership changes at theatres across the city.
Last month, Toronto’s Coal Mine Theatre announced its co-founder and co-artistic director, Diana Bentley, was stepping down at the end of the current season.
Earlier this year, the Toronto Fringe Festival also appointed two new co-leads, while the Luminato Festival named a new artistic director who will begin her tenure next year.