Alliance Theatre artistic director Susan V. Booth is departing to take on a similar role at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre.
Booth, who has been with the Alliance for 21 years and directed more than 40 productions, will finish her tenure by co-directing the regional premiere of the acclaimed play, Everybody, which begins previews on Sept. 2.
Before joining the Alliance, Booth was the Goodman Theatre’s director of new play development from 1993-2001.
Booth was well-known for championing new works and established programs to support emerging playwrights and artists, both locally and nationally, leading the Alliance to produce more than 85 world premieres including six musicals that transferred to Broadway.
Under her direction, the Alliance has become a national mode for theater education and she also led the capital campaign to transform the theater’s main performance space, opening The Coca-Cola Stage at Alliance Theatre during its 50th anniversary season. In 2007, the Alliance received the Regional Theatre Tony Award.
“Atlanta and The Alliance have been the most extraordinary artistic home,” Booth said in a statement. “Working with an intrepid and fearless board, a deeply invested philanthropic community, and on a campus with world class cultural partners has been a profound gift. I so look forward to watching The Alliance’s next big adventure and know my colleagues – quite simply the finest staff of theatre practitioners I know – will take the theatre to greater and greater heights of service, inclusion, and excellence.”
The Board of Directors will conduct a national search for the Alliance’s next Artistic Director. During the search, Associate Artistic Directors Christopher Moses and Tinashe Kajese-Bolden will manage artistic initiatives at the Alliance under the leadership of Managing Director, Mike Schleifer.