New replaces Curt Columbus, who left the post to become the new artistic director of Trinity Repertory Company in Providence, Rhode Island. New has appeared on the Steppenwolf stage as an actor in The Royal Family, The Ballad of Little Jo, Valparaiso, Morningstar, The Glass Menagerie and Slaughterhouse Five.
He received a BFA in Acting from the Theatre School at DePaul University in 1987. He is a multiple Joseph Jefferson award nominee, a recipient of the Sarah Siddons Award, and a Chicago/Stratford Associates Fellow. In Chicago, he has appeared in productions with Chicago Shakespeare Theater, The Goodman Theatre, The Chicago Humanities Festival, Court Theatre, Victory Gardens, Body Politic, Writer's Theatre of Chicago, Apple Tree Theatre, Marriott Lincolnshire Theatre, Drury Lane Oakbrook and others.