The Public Theater Names New Director of New Work Development

The Public Theater announced today that Jeanie O'Hare has been named the Director of New Work Development. O'Hare, who will start at The Public in September, has more than 20 years of experience, working with leading theater companies in Britain and most recently serving as the Chair of Playwriting at the Yale School of Drama.

"Jeanie O'Hare has the vision, the experience, the brains and the drive to elevate all our work at The Public Theater," said Artistic Director Oskar Eustis. "I am thrilled she will be joining our staff and I look forward to our partnership with joy."

"This is a wildly exciting time to be joining The Public Theater. Oskar Eustis leads a company that has become the place for America to take its boldest theatrical risks," said Jeanie O'Hare. "From my time at the Royal Court through to the Royal Shakespeare Company, and now to find myself invited into what is the de facto national theater of America feels like a philosophical homecoming. The Public has always been a home to writers who have the guts and the instinct to match the temper of the times and to do it with exuberance. There are great voices all across this country, and I look forward to playing my part in the realization of their ambitions."

O'HARE has served as the Chair of Playwriting at the Yale School of Drama since 2012, where she has re-shaped the curriculum, focusing primarily on collaboration and encouraging playwrights to look at new models of producing works. Prior to her time at the Yale School of Drama she served as the Company Dramaturg for the Royal Shakespeare Company for seven years. During that time she oversaw 35 writers under commission including David Greig, Helen Edmundson, Tarell Alvin McCraney, Stephin Merritt, and many others, as well as pairing together writing team Tim Minchin and Dennis Kelly for Matilda the Musical. She commissioned Shakespeare's poem The Rape of Lucrece as a musical song cycle; created the Embedded Writers Scheme for living writers to bring the lost voice to the classical rehearsal room; created the International Writer in Residence Program bringing Tarell Alvin McCraney to the RSC for two years; commissioned emerging playwrights to edit Shakespeare to 70 minutes for Shakespeare in School performed by RSC actors; relaunched the RSC Studio to allow writers to enjoy core classical training; and she achieved a historical first of getting new writing onto the main-stage at Stratford. She served as the Literary Manager of the Hampstead Theatre from 2001 to 2004, and for every year of her tenure Hampstead received Olivier Award nominations for Most Promising Playwright, winning twice. She also worked as the Literary Assistant at the Royal Court Theatre under Artistic Directors Stephen Daldry and Ian Rickson, where she served as Senior Script Reader and ran the literary team of readers who put plays forward for programming, and led the Royal Court Young Writers' Group with Rufus Norris.

Photo by Joan Marcus