Jason Loewith Named Artistic Director of Olney Theatre Center by Laura Assendio

I am so thrilled that Jason Loewith has accepted the Artistic Director position at Olney Theatre Center. He began his new position on February 4th. Here is the announcement from Olney Theatre Center:

“I’m so fortunate to have found Olney Theatre Center at this moment, just days away from opening its 75th anniversary season,” says Mr. Loewith. “This is an organization with deep challenges and deeper potential. With the help of the DC theater community I’ve come to love, with the passion and talent of the Olney Theatre Center staff, and with the wisdom and commitment of Managing Director Amy Marshall, all we can do is succeed. That’s going to pay benefits for the community around us, Montgomery County, and the DC-Baltimore arts corridor.”

Mr. Loewith has made theater as a producer, director, playwright and dramaturg in Los Angeles, New York, Chicago, and now Washington, DC. As a playwright, he won Lucille Lortel, Outer Critics Circle, and Jeff Awards for Best New Musical for Adding Machine: A Musical, which he co-wrote with composer Joshua Schmidt. He produced the world premiere at Chicago’s Next Theatre Company (Next) in 2007, where he served as Artistic Director from 2002-2008. That production went on to a six-month run Off-Broadway in 2008, winning four OBIE Awards for direction, design and performance. Mr. Loewith directed a dozen regional and world premieres at Next, where his programming twice received the After Dark Award for Outstanding Season (03-04 and 05-06), and work that he directed or produced won multiple Jeff, After Dark, and Black Theatre Alliance Awards and received critical accolades from Chicago and major media outlets.

Since moving to Washington in 2009, Mr. Loewith has directed new plays for Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, DC’s Studio Theatre, and Baltimore’s Everyman and CENTERSTAGE, where he also served as Associate Producer for Special Programs.  During that time, Mr. Loewith served as Executive Director of the National New Play Network (NNPN), the country’s alliance of theaters that champions the development, production, and continued life of new plays. With NNPN he supervised dozens of Rolling World Premieres across the country by writers like Luis Alfaro, Steven Dietz, Quiara Hudes, and Theresa Rebeck.  In his four years at the helm, NNPN added new programs and expanded old ones, garnering major new funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, and the Harold and Mimi Steinberg Charitable Trust.

Earlier in his career Mr. Loewith served for two years as Artistic Administrator for Chicago’s Court Theatre, five years as General Manager (and frequent dramaturg) at off-Broadway’s Classic Stage Company, worked in the literary departments of the Mark Taper Forum and the Public, and nearly lost his marbles mounting fifty productions in three years as Production Manager at the Odyssey Theatre in LA.  His work has been supported multiple times with NEA grants for Artistic Excellence, as well as the Rockefeller/MAP Fund and MacArthur’s International Connections Fund. Mr. Loewith was a Theatre Communications Group (TCG) New Generations mentorship grantee in the first year of the program.  His book The Director’s Voice, Volume 2 was published by TCG in 2012.

“I am thrilled to have Jason join us in this monumental year at Olney Theatre Center. I am excited about all he brings to the Theatre and look forward to working with him as we move into a new chapter at Olney Theatre Center,” says Amy Marshall, Olney Theatre Center Managing Director.

Editor’s note: Jason sent me this response today, “The very first time I walked through the doors I was energized: by its astonishing history, its extraordinary team of passionate and devoted artists and staff, its marvelous (and quirky!) facilities, and a raucous intern program that has mentored hundreds of young professionals over the years. This place has such great bones… and my job is to put the meat on those bones in a way that’s artistically rigorous, smart, balanced and appealing to the increasingly-diverse audience outside our doors. Call me crazy, but I just feel like the sky’s the limit for the place.”

About Olney Theatre Center
Olney Theatre Center, celebrating its 75^th Anniversary in 2013, is an award-winning, nonprofit, Equity theatre. Located just north of Washington, D.C. in arts-rich Montgomery County, Maryland, Olney Theatre Center offers a diverse array of professional productions year-round. Olney Theatre Center is situated on 14 acres in the heart of the beautiful Washington-Baltimore-Frederick “triangle,” within easy access of all three cities. Olney Theatre Center is home to the National Players, America’s longest-running touring company and led by Artistic Director Jason Loewith and Managing Director Amy Marshall. For more information please visit our website.  

Follow Olney Theatre Center on Twitter @olneytheatre or twitter.com/olneytheatre and on Facebook.