Cleveland Play House Names Rachel Fink as Managing Director

The Cleveland Play House Board of Directors has announced that arts advocate and executive leader Rachel Fink has been appointed as Managing Director. A stalwart supporter of leadership development and cultural policy, Fink comes to Cleveland from Chicago where she served as Executive Director of Lookingglass Theatre Company. She led the Tony Award-winning institution through their tumultuous challenges due to the pandemic, supporting their rebuild into their current reemergence.

Prior to her position in Chicago, Fink served as Managing Director of Theatre Bay Area, providing direct service and support to more than 300 theatres and 2,000 artists across the San Francisco Bay Area. She returns to Northeast Ohio, having grown up in University Heights, as well as to CPH, where she spent her formative years in the Cleveland Play House Curtain Puller program as well as an intern in the marketing, education, and general management departments.

Rachel Fink says, “I am thrilled to be coming home after 25 years away from the 216.” Fink says, “I learned to love the arts growing up in Cleveland, from my time at Cleveland Heights High School, where my passion for arts access, social justice and inclusive, equitable practices was ignited, through my years at Case Western Reserve University. I had my earliest exposure to professional theater here, including, yes, time at the Cleveland Play House that I’m now honored to serve again. I can’t wait to get started.”

Fink has held professional distinctions regionally and internationally. Her professional experience includes the Berkeley Repertory Theatre in California, where she founded the Berkeley Rep School of Theatre, developing programs that served tens of thousands of students of all ages. She was a Fellow at the Civic Leadership Academy at the University of Chicago/Harris School of Public Policy. Fink served as the US delegate for the British Council’s Cultural Leadership International Programme. She was a member of the American Express/Aspen Institute Fellowship for Emerging Nonprofit Leaders inaugural class and was a member of the 2016 artEquity anti-racism National Facilitator cohort. Fink is a League of Chicago Theatres board member, has served on the board of Theatre Bay Area, and has planned numerous national professional convenings for emerging arts leaders. She holds a B.A. in Theatre Arts from Case Western Reserve University and an M.F.A. in Theater Management from the Yale School of Drama.

The months-long search for CPH’s next permanent Managing Director was conducted by Management Consultants for the Arts. The firm is also leading the search for CPH’s next Artistic Director to co-lead the 108-year-old institution. Mark Cuddy, who has served as Interim Artistic and Managing Director since October 2022, will continue to serve as Interim Artistic Director until that position is filled.

CPH Board Chair Michael Meehan says, “We are very excited to introduce Rachel Fink as our new Managing Director.” Meehan says, “The search process was thoughtful and meticulous, and considered many worthy candidates from around the nation. Just as Rachel is thrilled to come home, we are equally thrilled to be bringing her home to Northeast Ohio.”

Fink will begin her tenure this summer.

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