Playwrights Horizons Announces Casey York As Its New Managing Director

Playwrights Horizons has announced Casey York as its new Managing Director. She assumes executive leadership of one of the nation's foremost nonprofit theater institutions at a high point in its history: two world premiere productions from its most recent season, Teeth and Stereophonic, received commercial transfers, with the latter becoming the most Tony-nominated play in history (and 2024's winner for Best Play).

York, who is currently Managing Director of esteemed new works producer and incubator Ars Nova and serves as the President of the Off-Broadway League, will lead Playwrights Horizons toward a future of continued creative and strategic evolution, as it expands approaches to its core mission to advance the voices and new work of risk-taking playwrights. York succeeds Leslie Marcus, who has served as Playwrights' Managing Director since 1993.

The news comes on the heels of a report that the company will undergo a number of internal changes involving numerous layoffs and consolidation and elimnation of several departments. 

York becomes Managing Director following a nationwide search led by Tom O'Connor Consulting Group. Playwrights sought candidates demonstrating a commitment to writers and theater artists and an understanding of how organizations can support them in turbulent times, and to increasing diversity and equity in the field. The Managing Director needed to be someone with impeccable skills in financial management and long-term planning. The ideal candidate would have clear philosophies around leading change in an evolving field, and innovative thinking about engaging new audiences and funders in a changing theatrical market.

York emerged as the leading applicant: her work at Ars Nova saw her leading various teams, first as General Manager, then as Managing Director, helping sustain the organization through the tumult of the pandemic and the industry's ensuing struggles. She worked to grow the organization's budget and expand into a second venue in 2018, the Historic Greenwich House Theater in the West Village, to serve a wider range of emerging artists in music, comedy, and theater. Throughout her tenure at Ars Nova, she has simultaneously sustained roles as President of the Off-Broadway League since 2020—she co-chairs the League's EDIJ committee—and Vice President of the Association of Not For Profit Theater Companies (ANTC) since 2019. She is a member of Mayor Eric Adams' inaugural Theatre and Live Performance Industry Council, in which she serves on the Workforce/Accessibility/Equity subcommittee.

The Playwrights Horizons appointment is a homecoming for York, whose administrative work in the theater industry began at the institution, where she started, in 2010, as a Marketing Resident, and ultimately advanced into the position of Associate General Manager, which she held from 2011 to 2014.

The Managing Director of Playwrights oversees overall business, administrative, and operational management of the organization—both its full-time staff and the Playwrights Horizons Theater School faculty. York will be the driver of long-range planning and strategic goals for the organization.

Sam Gonzalez, Co-Chair of the Playwrights Horizons Board of Trustees, said, “We are thrilled to welcome Casey back to Playwrights Horizons. During her time at Ars Nova, Casey has proven herself to be a leader both within the organization and in the greater off-Broadway theatrical community.  The Playwrights Horizons board of trustees and staff are looking forward to having Casey re-join our team as we adapt to produce new plays and musicals despite the headwinds facing non-profit theaters.”

Casey York said, “I'm humbled and delighted to join the leadership of Playwrights Horizons, one of our nation's cultural treasures, and to build on Leslie Marcus' exemplary 30-year legacy. The opportunity to return home to Playwrights, as the next Managing Director, in this pivotal moment for our industry, is an honor beyond words. My four years in the Marketing and General Management departments at Playwrights prepared me to spread my wings and make a meaningful impact at Ars Nova over the last decade. I feel immensely grateful for my time at Ars Nova, an organization that supports the kind of form-pushing, genre-bending artist that has made me excited to come to work each morning. There, I've been fortunate to have earned my stripes doing what I love with some of the kindest and most innovative people in the business, including Jason Eagan and Renee Blinkwolt and Ars Nova's unbelievable Board of Trustees. I've devoted my whole career to supporting and advocating for new Off-Broadway theater in NYC, and I'm so excited to work with Adam Greenfield, the Playwrights Horizons Board, and the organization's incredible, hard-working staff toward the advancement of visionary playwrights and theater-makers and the field.”

Adam Greenfield said, “In this time of seismic change in the economy and culture of theater, I feel inspired by Casey York's vision—not just for the financial and artistic well-being of Playwrights Horizons, but for the role that theater plays in a vibrant and healthy city. On a more personal note, I'm delighted by Casey's return to Playwrights. She and I started up here around the same time, some fifteen years ago, both at the beginning of our careers. As Playwrights Horizons faces a new chapter, an inflection point both inside and outside our theater's walls, we are lucky to be equipped with the strength and solidity of Leslie Marcus's longtime leadership—and with the creativity and might of Casey York's.”

Renee Blinkwolt, Producing Executive Director, Ars Nova, commented, “For the last ten years, Casey has served Ars Nova's mission and artists with her deep knowledge of the mechanics of non-profit theater, her wholehearted commitment to equity and justice, and her boundlessly creative problem-solving. We are profoundly grateful for her contributions and look forward to seeing the fruits of her labor at Playwrights Horizons. They could not have found a more dedicated or inspired leader.”

York joins on the heels of Playwrights' announcement of its 2024-25 season, a line-up that focuses on finding humanity and connection in isolating, disconnected times, with new work from Francesca D'Uva, Ryan J. Haddad, Jordan Harrison, Gabriel Kahane, Sarah Mantell, and a Spring 2025 production to be announced later this summer. The season offers a counter-narrative to everything we hear repeated about an industry in turmoil: revealing the unstoppable ingenuity of artists and the exciting horizons for American theater.

About Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons is a writer's theater dedicated to the development of contemporary American Playwrights, and to the production of innovative new work. In a city rich with cultural offerings, Playwrights Horizons' 53-year-old mission is unique among theaters of its size; the organization has distinguished itself by a steadfast commitment to centering and advancing the voice of the playwright. It's a mission that is always timely, and one that's necessary in the ongoing evolution of theater in this country.

Playwrights Horizons believes that playwrights are the great storytellers of our time, offering essential contributions to civic discourse and illuminating life's greatest paradoxes. And they believe in the singularity of a writer's voice, valuing the broad, eclectic spectrum and diversity of American writers. At Playwrights Horizons, writers are supported in every stage of their growth through commissions (engaging several of today's most imaginative playwrights each year), New Works Lab, and Almanac, the organization's literary magazine.

Playwrights Horizons presents a season of productions annually on their two stages, each of which is a world, American, or New York premiere. Much like Playwrights Horizons' work, their audience is risk-taking and adventurous; and the organization is committed to strengthening their engagement and feeding their curiosity through all of its programming, onsite and online.