MTC Names Jerry Patch Director Of Artistic Development

Manhattan Theatre Club Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove have announced that Jerry Patch will be joining MTC's artistic team as the company's new Director of Artistic Development.

Patch is currently Co-Artistic Director of San Diego's The Old Globe where he brought to the theatre works by such renowned playwrights as Amy Freed, Howard Korder, Richard Greenberg, and Donald Margulies. Prior to joining The Old Globe in 2005, he was a member of the artistic team of South Coast Repertory where he coordinated the development of 150 new plays, including two Pulitzer Prize winners.

Lynne Meadow and Barry Grove said, "We have known and admired Jerry Patch for many years and have always had the highest regard for his talent and his role in working with writers. The Manhattan Theatre Club has had many associations with Jerry and South Coast Rep when Jerry worked there with David Emmes and Martin Benson. Together we have worked on plays by Richard Greenberg, Donald Margulies, Beth Henley, and David Lindsay-Abaire. We, along with Acting Artistic Director Daniel Sullivan and Associate Artistic Director Mandy Greenfield, are thrilled that Jerry is making the move east to join MTC in its roles on and off Broadway."

Patch will be working with MTC's artistic team including Daniel Sullivan, Mandy Greenfield, Amy Loe, Director of Artistic Administration, and Lisa McNulty, Associate Director of Artistic Operations. Patch will also head up the play development office which includes Raphael Martin, Literary Manager and Annie MacRae, Play Development Associate/Sloan Project Manager.

Jerry Patch currently is the Co-Artistic Director of San Diego's The Old Globe. Prior to that, he served as the theatre's Resident Artistic Director. During his time there, he has brought to The Old Globe works by such renowned playwrights as Amy Freed, Howard Korder, Richard Greenberg and Donald Margulies. In the Globe's past three seasons, eleven world premieres and two second productions of new works have been presented, including Lee Blessing's A Body of Water, winner of the 2006 Steinberg New Play Award.

He previously served as the Dramaturge and a member of the longstanding artistic team at Southern California's Tony Awardâ-winning South Coast Repertory (SCR), where he coordinated the development of 150 new plays, including two Pulitzer Prize winners and numerous other Pulitzer finalists. Patch became the top choice for this new role at the Globe due to his many years of artistic accomplishments, his exceptional relationships with the nation's leading directors and playwrights, and his enthusiastic commitment to new work.

While at SCR, Patch worked as Dramaturge on numerous new works, including Donald Margulies' Sight Unseen and Brooklyn Boy, which made its Broadway debut at MTC's Biltmore Theatre, Margaret Edson's Pulitzer Prize-winning Wit, Howard Korder's Search and Destroy, Amy Freed's The Beard of Avon and Freedomland, and Lynn Nottage's Intimate Apparel and world-premieres of several plays by Richard Greenberg, including Three Days of Rain, Hurrah at Last!, The Violet Hour and Everett Beekin.

In addition, he co-conceived The Education of Randy Newman with Michael Roth and Mr. Newman. Patch also served as the founding project director of SCR's Pacific Playwrights Festival, which annually introduces seven new plays to Orange County audiences and National Theatre leaders. Typically, more than 75% of the festival plays presented receive multiple productions in theatres across the country.

During his tenure at SCR, Patch also held the position of Artistic Director (1990-1997) of The Sundance Theatre Program, which included the Sundance Playwrights Laboratory, one of the nation's leading new play development programs. Additionally, he ran the Sundance Summer Theatre, a repertory of 2-3 productions staged outdoors for Utah audiences and The Sundance Children's Theatre, which is dedicated to the development and presentation of new works for family audiences by leading American Playwrights.   Patch has taught at UC San Diego, UC Irvine, CSU Long Beach, Long Beach City College, and been a guest lecturer at Yale, Duke, UC Santa Barbara and UC Los Angeles.

Under the leadership of Artistic Director Lynne Meadow and Executive Producer Barry Grove, MTC has become one of the country's most prominent and prestigious theatre companies. MTC productions have earned numerous awards, including 16 Tony Awards and five Pulitzer Prizes, an accomplishment unparalleled by a New York theatrical institution. Renowned MTC productions include LoveMusik; Blackbird; Translations; Shining City; Rabbit Hole; Doubt; Kimberly Akimbo; Proof; The Tale of the Allergist's Wife; Love! Valour! Compassion!; Sylvia; Four Dogs and a Bone; Putting  It Together; Lips Together, Teeth Apart; Frankie and Johnny in the Clair de Lune; Crimes of the Heart; and Ain't Misbehavin'.

In 2003, MTC reopened Broadway's landmark, long-neglected Biltmore Theatre, following a two-year, $35 million capital campaign. In addition to the Biltmore, MTC operates two theatres at New York City Center, its Off-Broadway home since 1984.

During Meadow's sabbatical this season, Daniel Sullivan, a close associate of MTC and director of several Manhattan Theatre Club productions (Rabbit Hole, Brooklyn Boy, Sight Unseen, Proof, Psychopathia Sexualis), is serving as Acting Artistic Director. Sullivan will continue consulting with Meadow and MTC's artistic staff on the 2007-2008 season. Meadow will return to MTC for the 2008-2009 season and will consult on the planning of that season.

For information, please visit www.ManhattanTheatreClub.com.

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