Patricia McGregor has been announced as James C. Nicola's successor at New York Theatre Workshop. Following Nicola's previously announced departure from the role of Artistic Director June 30, McGregor will step into the role at the beginning of this summer. McGregor's first season of programming will begin with the 2023-2024 season.
“I’m thrilled and honored to be named the new artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop,” said McGregor in a statement. “The extraordinary staff, artists, and audiences of the Workshop have long inspired me. The need for the arts to combat social isolation, and revive the body politic towards a more just world is acute. NYTW’s dedication to dynamic work that deepens empathy and sparks wonder is vital. I look forward to centering accessibility, visibility, and innovation so that more people are welcomed into this transformative community. From the hands of my magnificent friend Jim Nicola, a mighty baton has been passed. I take this task seriously and with great joy in my heart. I am ready to run my leg of the race.”
McGregor, a director and writer, has both Broadway and Off-Broadway credits, including Hamlet (The Public Theater), Place (Brooklyn Academy of Music), Ugly Lies the Bone (Roundabout Theatre Company), brownsville song (Lincoln Center Theater), the world premiere of Hurt Village (Signature Theatre Company), Fela!, The 24 Hour Plays, and more.
She is an Old Globe Resident Artist, and previously served as the inaugural Artist in Residence for Adam Driver's Arts in the Armed Forces. While at the Yale School of Drama, she was a Paul and Daisy Soros Fellow, as well as Artistic Director of Yale Cabaret.
Preceding McGregor, Nicola has served as artistic director for 34 years, developing and producing works that have gone on to win a Pulitzer Prize and 25 Tony Awards, with a roster of works that includes Rent, Homebody/Kabul, Dirty Blonde, The Most Fabulous Story Ever Told, Peter and the Starcatcher, Once, Lazarus, Hadestown, What the Constitution Means to Me, and Slave Play. Works by Caryl Churchill, Doug Wright, Martha Clarke, Will Power, Jessica Blank, Erik Jensen, Dael Orlandersmith, Mfoniso Udofia, Rachel Chavkin, Ayad Akhtar, Amy Herzog, 2022 Tony nominee Lileana Blain-Cruz, Anne Kaufman, Celine Song, and Lucas Hnath were also supported under Nicola's leadership. For his work, Nicola is being recognized with a Special Tony Award at the June 12 ceremony.
In a joint statement, search committee co-chairs Rachel Chavkin and Noel Kirnon said, “Patricia McGregor is a visionary artist with a long and critically-recognized career as a freelance director. She has deep ties to the Workshop community, and the committee was particularly struck by how she demonstrated her experience with inclusive leadership, easily connecting with a wide cross-section of our community. We were moved by her intention to carry forward NYTW's commitment to highlighting formally groundbreaking work, centering eclecticism, and valuing a director’s generative vision—a torch that Jim Nicola has long carried. Patricia will deepen this work by expanding the Workshop’s relationship to our neighborhood and the wider communities of New York City.”
“Patricia is a truly inspirational leader and internationally-recognized generative artist who has a boundless imagination and exciting aspirations for the future of New York Theatre Workshop,” adds NYTW Board President Kelly Fowler Hunter in a statement. “She’s deeply committed to honoring and imaginatively building upon NYTW’s legacy of supporting visionary artists, and connecting them with the community and the world beyond. We couldn’t be more thrilled to welcome Patricia at the artistic helm of NYTW.”
The NYTW Search Committee worked with ALJP Consulting to search for its new artistic director beginning in the spring of 2021, a process which led to a pool of 170 applicants from which McGregor was chosen. The process included interviews with the Core Team, a non-hierarchical group of staff volunteers committed to guiding equity, diversion, and inclusion work within NYTW. ALJP Consulting, a Black-owned and mission-driven firm, works specifically with arts and culture nonprofits to provide planning and search services.
