The Catastrophic Theatre Welcomes New Managing Director

The Catastrophic Theatre welcomes Shayna Schlosberg to its staff as its next managing director.

Following an exhaustive national search for its next managing director, which yielded numerous great prospects, The Catastrophic Theatre found its ideal candidate right here in Houston. Catastrophic is pleased to announce that Shayna Schlosberg, most recently associate general manager at The Alley Theatre, will be the company's next managing director. She will transition to this position effective June 26, 2017.

Schlosberg will replace Catastrophic's outgoing managing director, Paul Brockman, who served two years in the position. Prior to his tenure as managing director, Paul was a founding board member and he had become Catastrophic's board president before being named managing director in 2015. Paul was instrumental in negotiating and overseeing Catastrophic's move to its new home at The MATCH. According to founding artistic director Jason Nodler, "We're very grateful to Paul for his service to Catastrophic. His contributions have been invaluable and we'll always think of him as part of the family."

Nodler says, "We are unanimous in our enthusiasm for what Shayna will bring to the theatre. She possesses the ideal skills, education, and experience to lead us as Catastrophic makes the leap from small theatre to midsized one-or, to put it differently, as the theatre becomes an institution without becoming institutional. Shayna is a breath of fresh air and we feel so lucky to have her joining us. We look forward to many years of strategic growth under her leadership."

Schlosberg took the first steps on the path toward her career in arts administration when she attended Houston's HSPVA, in the theatre department, graduating in 2006. It was there that she first encountered Nodler and Catastrophic's founding associate director Tamarie Cooper, each HSPVA alumni, who had been invited to speak to students at their alma mater. Nodler and Cooper made an impression and Schlosberg became a fan of their two theatres, most recently seeing several plays in the current season, before the position opened up.

After graduating from HSPVA Shayna went on to pursue a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Drama from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts (also Nodler's alma mater). After graduating from NYU, Shayna joined the U.S. Peace Corps and served as a community development volunteer and teacher of English as a Foreign Language in Armenia.

"I am honored to be joining Jason Nodler and Tamarie Cooper in leading The Catastrophic Theatre into its next phase of growth. Ever since I was first introduced to their work as a student at HSPVA, I have admired the daring and groundbreaking theatre these artists have brought to Houston. The Catastrophic Theatre has already had a remarkable impact both locally and nationally as a small organization; I'm very excited to see what the theatre will accomplish as we embark on the path towards becoming a mid- size organization," Shayna Schlosberg said.

Upon her return to the United States, Shayna's focus in the arts shifted from performance to administration, leading her to earn a Master of Management in International Arts Management from Southern Methodist University and HEC Montreal. During her graduate studies, she volunteered in the development department of the Undermain Theater in Dallas and the marketing department of Il Piccolo Teatro in Milan, Italy.

After completing her Master's degree, Shayna worked as the Alley Theatre's associate general manager for three years. While at the Alley, Schlosberg played an integral part in expanding the theatre's international programming and produced the site- specific performance piece Remote Houston by the Berlin-based theatre collective Rimini Protokoll. Ms. Schlosberg is dedicated to developing and enhancing arts and cultural programming in her hometown of Houston and recently served as a grant panelist for the Houston Arts Alliance.

Catastrophic board president Caroline Starry LeBlanc, who headed up the search committee, says, "Shayna's intelligence and enthusiasm were clear from our first interaction. We're confident we've assembled a team that's very well equipped to maintain Catastrophic's stellar reputation and help us grow into the next phase of our organization's life."

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