After 20 years at Off-Broadway's Working Theater, Laura Carbonell Monarque will step down from the role of Producing Artistic Director to become the Director of Development at Santa Barbara, California's Ensemble Theatre Company. Monarque will step into her new role July 1 after curating Working Theater's 2023-24 season.
Monarque began her time at Working Theater as an intern in 2003 under the guidance of long-time leader Mark Plesent, and worked her way to being named Managing Director in 2010. As Producing Artistic Director, Monarque launched several new artistic partnerships and helmed Working Theater through recovery post-COVID. Among the initiatives and programs she has instituted and solidified are the first open-access Theaterworks! class, the Mark Plesent Commission Fund, and the Sliding Scale Ticketing Initiative.
In a statement, she said, “I am excited to help usher in a new, shared model of leadership that will enable further growth for the organization as we endeavor to represent and serve a diverse constituency of working New Yorkers.”
Working Theater is immediately launching a national search for individuals to become the new administrative and artistic leaders who will comprise the new shared leadership structure, which will be supported by a new collaborative staff structure developed by Monarque. The search committee, formed by the company's Board of Directors, will select Working Theater's new leaders.
Board Member, Founding Member, and former Artistic Director Robert Arcaro said in a statement, "We are grateful to Laura's long years of service in the company, and honored to have grown alongside her as she navigated us through a time of transition, embracing Working Theater's mission, and continuing to find new ways to serve working New Yorkers through the arts. We wish her all the best in this new chapter.”
New leadership will be supported by a team including Business Manager Kylee Brinkman, Marketing and Media Manager Coryn Carson, and Program Manager Sanam Hashemi.
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