First Take: Children’s Theatre’s New Managing Director Since graduating from the University of Minnesota more than 20 years ago, Jill A. Anderson’s career in theater management has taken her to Washington D.C.
, New Mexico, Massachusetts and upstate New York, where she’s served as managing director of the Syracuse Stage since 2016. This summer, she returns to the Twin Cities as the managing director of . It’s truly a full circle moment: Anderson worked as a CTC telemarketer when she was a college student.
We caught up with the Wisconsin native, still in Syracuse, where she is wrapping up and packing up to head back to the Midwest. She assumes her role July 1, alongside Rick Dildine, CTC’s new artistic director. “I had always hoped to one day be back in the Twin Cities, but I didn’t necessarily expect it to be now.
” “I’m told my broad set of experiences in theater made me an appealing candidate, particularly as CTC focuses on developing new works. From a business perspective, we know that people who come to see blockbuster titles are more often one-time attendees. The folks who engage in new work tend to stick around.
We need both.” Folks are out of the habit. And we have a multitude of options for any free hour.
Theaters need to be in a discussion [with the public] about the value of spending time in a theater. We’re all considering the different ways people want to engage—they don’t want to just sit there; they want a rich experience, an interact.
