Changing of the Guard at Williamstown Theater Festival

The creative director of the celebrated Williamstown Theater Competition has stepped down after complaints by some staff about longstanding working situations there.

The competition mentioned Monday that Mandy Greenfield, who has been the creative director since 2014, had resigned late final month. Jenny Gersten, who had led the competition from 2010 to 2014, will return as interim creative director throughout the seek for a brand new chief.

The summer time competition, which runs within the Berkshires area of Western Massachusetts and has historically relied partially on a pool of younger seasonal employees, didn’t provide a motive for the change of management. However it follows a pair of stories in The Los Angeles Instances detailing considerations by staff — sound crew members who objected to working outside, on a present set in a reflecting pool, throughout wet climate, and former staff, a lot of them onetime interns, who expressed different security considerations.

The competition mentioned in a information launch that the management change “will guarantee a future imaginative and prescient that not solely expands on the Competition’s well-respected legacy, however one that’s accountable, secure and equitable for all.”

In a press release, Greenfield mentioned that her “purpose as creative director was to swing for the fences, make artwork and attempt to enhance and evolve each day.”

“In 2019, I declined to resume a multiyear contract supplied to me by the Competition; whereas flattered to be requested to proceed, I agreed as a substitute to remain on for 2 years, on a year-to-year foundation,” she mentioned. “I additionally publicly dedicated to management transition as I deeply consider, influenced by the British custom, that theatrical establishments should empower new, numerous leaders in common, shorter intervals than is the customized in the USA.”

Greenfield’s tenure featured a notable variety of creative successes, together with Broadway transfers for “Grand Horizons,” “The Sound Inside,” “The Rose Tattoo,” “Idiot for Love” and “Residing on Love,” in addition to a number of Off Broadway transfers.

Gersten has held quite a lot of positions within the theater world. At the moment, she is producer of musical theater at New York Metropolis Heart, and is a line producer of “Beetlejuice,” which is returning to Broadway subsequent spring. She plans to proceed in each of these roles.