Compass Rose Theater has appointed Madeline Austin as its new Artistic Director. She replaces the theater’s Founding Artistic Director, Lucinda Merry-Browne, who had led the theater since 2011 and retired in 2024.
“We are very fortunate to attract such a respected theater professional who has decades of experience as both a director and producer,” said Barbara Webber, executive director of Compass Rose Theater. “She follows in the impressive footsteps of our founder, who successfully built this theater into a small but mighty, critically acclaimed theater in the heart of Annapolis.”
Madeline Austin has over 20 years of experience in the theater, working as a director, producer, educator, and actor. She directed shows at Ensemble Studio Theatre’s Writer Lab, Manhattan Theatre Source, and Polaris North in New York. Locally, her work includes Clue: On Stage, Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Little Shop of Horrors, 12 Angry Jurors, and Twelfth Night for AACC Theatre. This past February, she directed Little Shop of Horrors at Compass Rose Theater, which received a Helen Hayes Award Recommendation, and she will be directing “Pride and Prejudice” this fall.
“I am thrilled to be joining Compass Rose Theater and helping navigate its future. My wish is that patrons continue to be enlightened, enthralled, moved, and surprised by what you see on our stage,” said Austin.
For more than a decade, Austin worked with Gerald Schoenfeld, Chairman of The Shubert Organization, which owns and operates 17 Broadway theaters. During that time, she was associated with dozens of Broadway shows while taking on other projects including producing the Off-Broadway run of Maybe Baby, It’s You (director Jeremy Dobrish); The Invested (director Ron Canada); Stealing Sweets and Punching People (director Michael Sexton) and the premiere of Spin Off (director Ron Canada).
Passionate about Shakespeare, she led The Shakespeare Society as Executive Director for two years, overseeing large-scale events and fundraisers as well as the organization’s educational programming. She also served on the Artistic Advisory Council for Naked Angels in NY. Currently, she serves as a creative advisor for Creative Women New York and as an adjunct faculty member at Anne Arundel Community College.
About Compass Rose Theater
Compass Rose Theater, in Annapolis, Maryland, is a nonprofit professional teaching theater company founded in 2011, offering award-winning plays and musicals, as well as theater classes and summer camps. It has received numerous Helen Hayes nominations and recommendations, and a Helen Hayes Award.
