McCarter Theatre's Adam Immerwahr Appointed Theater J's New Artistic Director

Washington, D.C.'s Theater J has found a new artistic director after letting go of Ari Roth, who ran the company for 18 years, in 2014.

The new head of Theater J -- Adam Immerwahr -- is an award-winning director and producer whose work has included off-Broadway plays in New York as well as regional and international productions. He is currently the associate artistic director at the acclaimed McCarter Theatre Center in Princeton, NJ.

According to The New York Times, Immerwahr will start programming with the 2016-17 season.

Last winter, Roth said his dismissal had much to do with disagreements over his programming choices, especially those concerning the Middle East.

On whether the new artistic director will be willing to stage such controversial material, Immerwahr told the Times, "Absolutely. If the play is excellent, I would absolutely be willing to explore it. And I know the staff of Theater J and the leadership...is ready and willing to go there."

In a statement on Theater J's website, Immerwahr added: "Theater J is the country's foremost Jewish theater, having built an extraordinary audience that hungers for stimulating, engaging, delightful work from across a wide range of voices and perspectives. I can't imagine anywhere I'd rather be. I am honored to join this wonderful staff, wise council and brilliant managing director, Rebecca Ende, in what I hope will be an exciting next chapter of Theater J's life -- and I am overjoyed to become a part of the vibrant theater community in the nation's capital."

At McCarter, Immerwahr has produced work created by Christopher Durang, Emily Mann, Ken Ludwig, Mary Zimmerman, Danai Gurira, Fiasco Theater, Phylicia Rashad, Stephen Wadsworth, and many of the country's most exciting actors, designers and directors.

Immerwahr was part of the producing team that commissioned and premiered Christopher Durang's VANYA AND SONIA AND MASHA AND SPIKE, starring Sigourney Weaver and David Hyde Pierce, which went on to transfer to Broadway and win the 2014 Tony Award for Best Play. Other producing credits include Fiasco Theater's INTO THE WOODS, which premiered at McCarter before transferring to San Diego's The Old Globe and then The Roundabout in New York, where it won the 2015 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Revival.

In addition to his work at McCarter, Immerwahr also served as resident director at Passage Theatre in Trenton, NJ and artistic director for OnStage, a community-based senior citizen theater company. At Passage Theatre, he recently launched a documentary theater project to collect the stories of local Holocaust survivors for a performance piece that will tour schools throughout New Jersey.

As a director, Immerwahr's work has also been seen at The Public Theater and Theatre Row (both for Summer Play Festival), Ensemble Studio Theater, Premiere Stages, Theater Masters, Hangar Theater, Bristol Riverside Theater, and more. He also directed the African premiere of Danai Gurira's THE CONVERT in Harare, Zimbabwe.

Immerwahr's work has been recognized with the Weston Award for Directing, the New Jersey Theatre Alliance Applause Award and the Fairleigh Dickinson University Emerging Nonprofit Leader Award. His production of Love and Communication at Passage Theatre won the Philadelphia Brown Martin Award (a Barrymore Award), and his production of The Convert was nominated for Zimbabwe's National Arts Medal. He was also a Drama League Directing Fellow and is an alumnus of the Luna Stage Directors Lab. Immerwahr grew up in the Philadelphia area and is a graduate of Brown University.