Deeksha Gaur and Janet Lynne Knopf Join Second Stage Theater's Board of Directors as Trustees

Second Stage Theater has announced that Deeksha Gaur has joined the Company's Board of Directors as a Trustee. Additionally, the Board is announcing the appointment of Janet Lynne Knopf, who joined the Board as a Trustee during the pandemic shutdown.

Second Stage Board Chair, Terry Lindsay, noted, "As Second Stage, and the entire theater community, emerges from the pandemic, it is vital to have experienced and varied voices on the board. Deeksha brings a wealth of knowledge and expertise to our board, and we look forward to working with her in the coming years. Janet Lynne joined us in the middle of the pandemic and has already brought her considerable talents to Second Stage."

Deeksha Gaur is cofounder and General Manager of Show-Score, a trusted reviews platform and fan community that helps audiences discover and enjoy live theatre. She comes to the startup world from the not-for-profit theatre, where she held senior marketing and PR positions at Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company, Two River Theater Company, and Long Wharf Theatre. She has sat on the boards of SPACE on Ryder Farm and Ars Nova, and currently serves on the board of the award-winning Second Stage Theater. She is a recipient of a TCG New Generation Future Leaders grant and The Foundry Theatre's Producer's Chair award. She has guest lectured in arts marketing at New York University, Howard University, and Yale University. She has an MA in history from Cambridge University and an MFA in Theater Management from Yale School of Drama.

Janet Lynne Knopf currently works in investment research for Edgewood Management. She has almost a decade of experience in various financial services and analytical research roles. She is a graduate of the University of Virginia and the Wharton School of the University of Pennsylvania.

Second Stage Theater'S 42nd SEASON

Second Stage Theater's 42nd season continues its mission as a theater company exclusively dedicated to producing living American Playwrights.

The season kicked off at the Tony Kiser Theater on September 14th 2021 with the world premiere of Rajiv Joseph's LETTERS OF SURESH, directed by May Adrales. This new play continued the story of origami whiz Suresh, who was first introduced in Joseph's play, Animals Out of Paper, which was produced at Second Stage's Uptown space in 2008.

The season continued with the production of Lynn Nottage's CLYDE'S at The Hayes Theater. Directed by Kate Whoriskey, CLYDE'S was named "The Best New Play of 2021" by Terry Teachout of The Wall Street Journal and a Best Play of 2021 by Jesse Green of The New York Times.

Currently, Second Stage is presenting Richard Greenberg's Tony Award-winning play, TAKE ME OUT, directed by Scott Ellis. The production, which features Patrick J. Adams, Jesse Tyler Ferguson, and Jesse Williams, officially opened on April 4th at Broadway's Hayes Theater.

At the Kiser Theater, Second Stage is presenting the world premiere comedy, TO MY GIRLS, written by JC Lee and directed by Stephen Brackett. Featuring Bryan Batt, Jay Armstrong Johnson, Carman Lacivita, Maulik Pancholy, Noah J. Ricketts, and Britton Smith, this Second Stage-commissioned play officially opened on April 12th.

Second Stage will close out the season with the return of the Pulitzer Prize-winning BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY, written by Stephen Adly Guirgis and directed by Guirgis' original collaborator, Austin Pendleton. Previously produced at Second Stage's Off-Broadway home to critical acclaim, BETWEEN RIVERSIDE AND CRAZY will make its Broadway Premiere at the Hayes Theater in fall of 2022.

ABOUT Second Stage Theater

Under the artistic direction of Carole Rothman, Second Stage Theater operates three New York City venues, exclusively dedicated to producing living American Playwrights. Second Stage's first season on Broadway at The Hayes Theater included Lobby Hero by Kenneth Lonergan, directed by Trip Cullman (Tony nominee for Best Revival of Play, Best Performance by an Actor in a Featured Role, Michael Cera and Brian Tyree Henry) and Straight White Men by Young Jean Lee and directed by Anna D. Shapiro. Among Second Stage's 180 productions are the 2015 Pulitzer Prize winner Between Riverside and Crazy by Stephen Adly Guirgis; the 2010 Pulitzer Prize winner Next to Normal by Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey; the 2012 Pulitzer Prize winner Water by the Spoonful by Quiara Alegria Hudes; Mary Page Marlowe by Tracy Letts; The Last Five Years by Jason Robert Brown; Dogfight by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul and Peter Duchan; Dear Evan Hansen by Benj Pasek, Justin Paul, and Steven Levenson; By the Way, Meet Vera Stark by Lynn Nottage; Trust and Lonely, I'm Not by Paul Weitz; Grand Horizons by Bess Wohl; The Elaborate Entrance of Chad Deity by Kristoffer Diaz; Everyday Rapture and Whorl Inside a Loop by Dick Scanlan and Sherie Rene Scott; Let Me Down Easy and Notes From the Field by Anna Deavere Smith; Becky Shaw by Gina Gionfriddo; Torch Song by Harvey Fierstein; Eurydice by Sarah Ruhl; The Little Dog Laughed by Douglas Carter Beane; Metamorphoses by Mary Zimmerman; The 25th Annual Putnam County Spelling Bee by William Finn and Rachel Sheinkin; Jitney by August Wilson; Crowns by Regina Taylor; Saturday Night by Stephen Sondheim; Afterbirth: Kathy & Mo's Greatest Hits by Mo Gaffney and Kathy Najimy; This Is Our Youth by Kenneth Lonergan; Coastal Disturbances by Tina Howe; A Soldier's Play by Charles Fuller; The Good Times Are Killing Me by Lynda Barry; and Tiny Alice and Peter and Jerry by Edward Albee.

The company's more than 130 citations include six 2017 Tony Awards for Dear Evan Hansen (Best Musical; Best Lead Actor in a Musical, Ben Platt; Best Featured Actress in a Musical, Rachel Bay Jones; Best Book of a Musical; Best Original Score; Best Orchestrations); the 2009 Tony Awards for Best Lead Actress in a Musical (Alice Ripley, Next to Normal), Best Score (Tom Kitt and Brian Yorkey, Next to Normal), and Best Orchestrations (Tom Kitt and Michael Starobin, Next to Normal); the 2007 Tony Award for Best Actress in a Play (Julie White, The Little Dog Laughed); the 2005 Tony Award for Best Book of a Musical (Rachel Sheinkin, ...Spelling Bee) and Best Featured Actor in a Musical (Dan Fogler, ...Spelling Bee); the 2002 Tony Award for Best Director of a Play (Mary Zimmerman for Metamorphoses); the 2002 Lucille Lortel Award for Outstanding Body of Work, 29 Obie Awards, eight Outer Critics Circle Awards, three Clarence Derwent Awards, 13 Drama Desk Awards, nine Theatre World Awards, 20 Lucille Lortel Awards, the Drama Critics Circle Award and 23 AUDELCO Awards.

In 1999, Second Stage Theater opened The Tony Kiser Theater, its state-of-the-art, 296-seat theater, designed by renowned Dutch architect Rem Koolhaas. In 2002, Second Stage launched "Second Stage Theater Uptown" to showcase the work of up and coming artists at the 99-seat McGinn/Cazale Theater. The Theater supports artists through several programs that include residencies, fellowships and commissions, and engages students and community members through education and outreach programs. In 2018, Second Stage began producing at its 581 seat Broadway home, The Hayes Theater. Originally named "The Little Theater" and built in 1912, the city landmark has been remodeled by David Rockwell of Rockwell Group.

For more information, please visit www.2ST.com or follow Second Stage on Twitter: @2STNYC, Instagram: @2stnyc and Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/2STNYC/

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