Leadership Transition: 2025-26
Four years ago, I was honored to be named Artistic Director of The Acting Company. The late John Houseman was instrumental in my pursuit of Professional Theatre Training and my subsequent career, so it was a particularly sweet and meaningful opportunity to lead this company into its next fifty years. During my tenure our company emerged from the pandemic and returned to national touring, bringing innovative classical work and the premieres of newly commissioned American plays in vibrant productions to often underserved populations and communities throughout the country. Producing national tours amidst a radically changing American theatrical landscape has not been easy but it remains worthwhile, deeply fulfilling and necessary. During my time as Artistic Director, The Acting Company has produced and presented world premiere adaptations by female identifying playwrights, Lisa Peterson (ODYSSEY) and Kirsten Childs (THE THREE MUSKETEERS). We continue that tradition this season with Nikki Massoud's adaptation of GREAT EXPECTATIONS, touring alongside A MIDSUMMER NIGHT'S DREAM. In 2025 we were honored to produce the first national tour of Pulitzer Prize winner August Wilson's TWO TRAINS RUNNING presented in rep with the Cristina Anderson adaptation of THE COMEDY OF ERRORS, produced in association with Play On Shakespeare. This repertory was launched with a new partner, Rubicon Theatre Company. This tour closed with a three week run in the subscription season at American Conservatory Theatre. Subscribers at ACT heralded the return of rep work to their stages.
We will return to Rubicon again this year. In addition to our national tour, I'm equally proud of our robust and dynamic series of readings highlighting great playwrights, lesser-known works ripe for reinvestigation, a new musical work. These readings have featured great actors like John Douglas Thompson, David Corenswet, Rachel Brosnahan and Dakin Matthews alongside actors featured in our company over many years; resulting in classic plays seen and heard in new ways for today's audiences.
We have increased funding support while remaining dedicated to diversity, gender parity, and equity in our work and hiring practices even as these fundamental principles of inclusion have come under fire. The past four years work has increased and expanded our artistic collaborations with both new and venerable national partners. The Acting Company continues to cultivate and nurture artists who we believe will be the next generation of great actors, playwrights, directors and designers.
I am very proud of the work we have done together. I believe in The Acting Company's dedication to emerging artists. We remain committed to making classics in new ways commissioning and producing new plays that may become the classics of the next generation.
Now it is time for new Artistic leadership. Effective Sept 1, 2025 I will step down as the Artistic Director of The Acting Company, making way for new Artistic leadership, I will transition into a new role for The Acting Company as Director of Special Projects where I hope to continue making a substantive contribution to TAC. I move into this role with gratitude to our Board Chair Earl Weiner, the entire Board of Directors and the Administrative and Artistic staff of The Acting Company who are doing mighty, and extraordinary work. I particularly want to thank Devin Brain. Without his leadership and artistry, none of my work would have been possible. In the hands of these colleagues, the future of The Acting Company and the American theatre is indeed bright. There is reason for hope and celebration even amidst the hard work and need for innovation on the horizon. Please join me in thanking them and in celebrating The Acting Company and its future!
Kent Gash,
Director of Special Projects
"Kent Gash is the perfect artistic director for The Acting Company now. He will expand on the company’s founding mission, the work we have been doing recently, and redefine how the classics speak to our time."
–Margot Harley, Founder, The Acting Company
Gash’s productions have appeared at most of the leading theaters in the U.S. including Arizona Theatre Co. (“Master Harold”… and the boys), Cleveland Playhouse (Ain’t Misbehavin’, Mahalia), Denver Center (Gee’s Bend, Pure Confidence), Ford’s Theatre (The Wiz), Geffen Playhouse (Harriet’s Return), Guthrie Theatre (Guys and Dolls), Intiman Theatre (his own adaptation of Richard Wright’s Native Son), Marin Theatre Co. (The Legend of Georgia McBride, Seven Guitars), Oregon Shakespeare Festival (The Comedy of Errors), Primary Stages (Call the Children Home), The Public Theatre (Barbeque), Rattlestick Theatre (Lockdown), South Coast Rep (Gem of the Ocean), Signature Theatre (D.C.) (U.G.L.Y.), Studio Theatre (Wig Out!, Choir Boy), Trinity Rep (The Mountaintop), True Colors Theatre Co. (Steel Magnolias with a bi-racial cast), among many others. For this large body of work, he has received Audelco, Bay Area Critics, Boston Critics, Helen Hayes, and Suzi Bass Awards.
“I'm thrilled and delighted to be the new Artistic Director of The Acting Company, building on the legacy of John Houseman, Margot Harley, Zelda Fichandler, Michael Kahn, and Ian Belknap before me. The Acting Company has been and will always be, AMERICA'S DYNAMIC NEW AND CLASSIC THEATRE, WHERE THEN MEETS NOW!”
–Kent Gash
Previously, Gash was an Associate Artistic Director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, where he directed Troilus and Cressida, Twelfth Night, Regina Taylor’s A Night in Tunisia, and Five Guys Named Moe, among others. He also served as Associate Artistic Director at Atlanta’s Alliance Theatre, recipient of the 2007 Tony Award for American Regional Theatre, directing the premiere of Jelly’s Last Jam, Quiara Alegría Hudes’ 26 Miles, God of Carnage, and Topdog/Underdog, among others. He also served on the Board of Directors of the National Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts and on the Tony Awards Nominating Committee. Gash currently serves on the Arts Advisory Board of the Princess Grace Foundation, the board of the Rattlestick Theater, and he also serves on the Stage Directors and Choreographers Foundations’ Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency Committee for Black Directors.
“Kent’s talent, creativity and depth of experience as an actor, director and founding director of NYU’s New Studio on Broadway make him the perfect choice to shape the Company’s artistic vision and to carry on our legacy of developing young professional actors.”
–Earl Weiner, Board Chair, The Acting Company
Kent serves and advises on several national committees and boards which include the Stage Directors and Choreographers' Lloyd Richards New Futures Residency Committee for Black Directors and Artistic Leaders, and their Inclusion Rider Committee. He serves on the Arts Advisory Board of the Princess Grace Foundation, Peabody Awards Committee, and previously served on the Board of Directors of the National Theatre Alliance for Inclusion in the Arts and the Tony Awards Nominating Committee. He holds a B.F.A. from the Carnegie-Mellon University School of Drama and an M.F.A. from the University of Southern California at Los Angeles School of Theatre, Film and Television.
