Playwrights Horizons Renames Mainstage 'The Judith O. Rubin Theater' After Longtime Board Chair

Playwrights Horizons has renamed its Mainstage Theater the Judith O. Rubin Theater, after 2024 Tony Honor-winner Judith O. Rubin, who led the Playwrights board from 1992 to 2024. The renamed theater, which will be affectionately known as “The Judy,” celebrates the profound impact Rubin has had at Playwrights and beyond. 

Rubin led Playwrights through numerous eras of growth and transformation, and the space becomes “The Judy” at another moment of bounteous possibility for Playwrights Horizons. The organization recently kicked off its boundary-breaking 2024-25 season, having concluded last season with the meteoric success of its world premiere production of Stereophonic, which transferred to Broadway and became the most Tony-nominated play in history (and won 5 Tony Awards). 

A plaque has been installed outside “The Judy” to make the renaming official, noting Rubin's 32 remarkable years as a Board Chair. (Rubin has been on the board for 39 years total, and continues to serve with the title Chair Emeritus.) The plaque reads: “Judy has long worked to secure Playwrights' well-being, safeguard its mission, and champion its artistic excellence. Playwrights Horizons would not be what it is today without her decades of leadership. A friend and confidant to generations of theater-makers, she is a titan of our community.” 

Rubin saw Playwrights Horizons through decades of growth and numerous extraordinary challenges: 9/11, the 2008-09 financial crisis, and the COVID-19 shutdown, to name a few. She was the Board Chair when the scope of the theater's artistic ambitions became too great for the walls of its 416 West 42nd Street home and the organization constructed its current facility on the site. Rubin worked with former Managing Director Leslie Marcus to expand the board, creating new board committees and integrating the board more holistically into the organization. 

Playwrights Horizons produced more than 170 shows during her tenure. Those productions garnered 4 Pulitzer Prizes, 9 Tony Awards, and 47 Obie Awards.  In this time, Playwrights Horizons has produced breakthrough plays and musicals by David Adjmi, Will Arbery, Annie Baker, Tanya Barfield, Clare Barron, Adam Bock, Agnes Borinsky, David Cale, John J. Caswell, Jr., Kirsten Childs, Kia Corthron, Lisa D'Amour, Larissa FastHorse, Michael Friedman, Melissa James Gibson, David Greenspan, Adam Guettel, Amy Herzog, Lucas Hnath, Michael R. Jackson, Kenneth Lonergan, Craig Lucas, Taylor Mac, Richard Nelson, Bruce Norris, Lynn Nottage, Robert O'Hara, Theresa Rebeck, Sarah Ruhl, Tori Sampson, Christopher Shinn, Jeanine Tesori, Anne Washburn, and Doug Wright. This year, the The Tony Awards Administration Committee honored Rubin with 2024 Tony Honor for Excellence in the Theatre; Heather Hitchens, President and CEO of the American Theatre Wing, emphasized Rubin's “passionate advocacy for culture.” 

Adam Greenfield said of Rubin, “Long before I had the privilege of joining the staff of Playwrights Horizons I knew about this theater's integrity, and its determined adherence to its mission, so clearly driven by a profound love for writing and respect for writers. When I started up here, first as the theater's Literary Manager, it was immediately clear that these values, and the rigor with which they're held, was in the DNA of this place; and that it emanated from the top. As our Board Chair, Judy set a standard of excellence, generosity, intelligence and humanity. She brings enormous care to everything she does, and this care has woven its way through every aspect of the organization. It permeates throughout the building and is felt by the artists who trust us with their work. It's an honor for our theater — the home for so many new works — to bear Judy's name.”

Over the 2023-24 season, Rubin worked hand-in-hand with Sam Gonzalez as Board Co-Chair, ensuring a smooth transition to Gonzalez as Chair—a role he assumed when Rubin stepped down from the position over the summer. 

Gonzalez said, “I've had the pleasure of serving on the Board of Trustees at Playwrights Horizons under Judy's leadership since 2011. 2011. This has provided me more than a decade to observe how a top-notch Board Chair operates.  Last season, I had the opportunity to work with Judy first-hand before taking the reins on my own this season. It's not lost on me what enormous shoes I've been charged to fill, but luckily, I know I can continue to count on Judy to mentor and guide me as I assume leadership of the board.”

Rubin said, “Playwrights Horizons, its mission and exemplary work have been essential elements of my life for almost four decades. To have my name as a permanent part of our home is deeply gratifying and a great honor. Here's to many more years of distinguished new work by courageous and gifted playwrights.”

Lending more strength and a diversity of new perspectives to an institution that's already successfully navigating an era of seismic change in the field, eight new members have joined the board—leaders in the worlds of theater, entertainment, and law including Evan Coles, Kelly G. Griffin, Shveta Kakar, Mitra Hormozi O'Neill, John Rose, Candice Cook Simmons, Sean Walsh, and Steven Weinstock. 

Casey York, meanwhile, recently assumed the role of Managing Director—returning to Playwrights, where she began her theater career, after a decade at Ars Nova. 

Casey York said, “It's an honor to unveil 'The Judy' this fall, honoring Judy Rubin's unparalleled impact in our community. What a gift to also welcome an exceptional new group of talented and visionary leaders to our Board of Trustees. As we build on this strong foundation, I am buoyed with hope for the exciting chapter ahead.”

The Judy has been dedicated just as Playwrights readies to open the first production of the 2024-25 season in the space: Sarah Mantell's quietly revolutionary play about finding family and hope in a sinking world, In the Amazon Warehouse Parking Lot, directed by Sivan Battat and presented in association with Breaking the Binary Theatre. (Previews began October 10; the production officially opened last night (October 28) and runs through November 17). Other works that will be presented in the Judith O. Rubin Theater this season include The Antiquities, an uncanny view of the present moment from far in the future, by Jordan Harrison, co-directed by David Cromer and Caitlin Sullivan (January 11-February 23); and Hold Me In the Water, a funny and tender solo play about the passion and intimacy of first love, written and performed by Ryan J. Haddad and directed by Danny Sharon (April 10-May 4). In the Peter Jay Sharp Theater, the organization will present Francesca D'Uva's solo musical comedy This Is My Favorite Song (November 19-December 8) and a to-be-announced co-production with Soho Rep; the season opened with Gabriel Kahane's Magnificent Bird / Book of Travelers, directed by Annie Tippe.

This season Playwrights Horizons also begins a historic partnership with Soho Rep, with the esteemed Downtown company departing its home of nearly 30 years and begins a temporary residency in Playwrights' Peter Jay Sharp Theater. The space-sharing partnership will likewise extend to new production models as the two theaters explore innovative ways organizations can support one another and the artists in their community. 

About Judith O. Rubin

Judith O. Rubin is Chair Emeritus of the board of Playwrights Horizons. In 2024 she received a Tony Honor Award for Excellence In The Theater. She served for twenty-five years as a member of the New York State Council on the Arts, eight years as a member of the National Council on the Arts of the NEA, and six years as a member of the board of Theatre Communications Group. In June 2004 she completed three years as a member of the Tony Awards Nominating Committee and is now a member of the board of the American Theatre Wing, and the Administration Committee of the Tony Awards. She is a director of the New York Community Trust, the Laurents/Hatcher Foundation that awards a major annual prize to a new play by an emerging playwright, a trustee of The Mount Sinai Health System in New York and its School of Medicine, the Collegiate School, and Verse Video Education, producer of Poetry in America. She has served on the Yale University Council Committee on Theater at Yale, the California Institute of the Arts (CalArts) Board of Overseers, and the Board of Regents of the State of New York, representing the First Judicial District (Manhattan). She is a former trustee of Public Radio International, and the Center for Arts and Culture, a cultural policy think tank in Washington, D.C. She was Commissioner for Protocol for the City of New York during the four years of the Dinkins Administration and is a former president and chairman of the 92nd Street Y, a large cultural center in New York.

About Sam Gonzalez

Sam Gonzalez recently retired as the Director of Business Operations/Chief of Staff to Pfizer's Chief Oncology Officer, a role he assumed in 2020. From 2011 to 2020 as Chief of Staff to Dr. Freda Lewis-Hall in her roles as Chief Medical Officer and Chief Patient Officer. Prior to that, he held various roles in Sales Operations and served as the Chief of Staff to the head of Human Resources during the Pfizer/Wyeth integration. Originally from Texas, Sam relocated to New York in 1995 to re-open the Omni Berkshire Place Hotel and later transitioned into meeting and conference planning. Sam spent twelve years as an in-house meeting and conference planner at Smith Barney (Investment Banking Division), Goldman Sachs, and Deutsche Bank, prior to joining in the same capacity at Pfizer in 2003. Before his move to New York, he was the youngest member of the Irving (Texas) Arts Board, working to support and develop artistic opportunities to attract visitors to the city. Sam's involvement extended to the Tony Awards Nominating Committee from 2015 to 2018 and Southwestern Vermont Medical Center's Northshire Regional Advisory Board. For 12 years, he coordinated a mentoring program between the NYC Department of Education, Pfizer, and the Harvey Milk High School. 

About the New Board Members

Evan Coles. As a Managing Partner of TRATE Productions, Evan has co-produced A Strange Loop (Lyceum), Parade (Jacobs), and Cabaret (August Wilson). As an Associate Director he has contributed to To Kill A Mockingbird (Shubert), Gary: A Sequel to Titus Andronicus (Booth), and Piano Lesson (Barrymore).

Kelly G. Griffin. Over his 25-year career, Kelly G has played a key role in discovering, developing, and producing content for some of the biggest iconic names in music and pop culture including Drake, Beyonce', Meghan Thee Stallion, Mary J. Blige, John Legend, Jay Z, and Kendrick Lamar. Kelly G. currently serves as a Creative Strategist and Senior Consultant for 300 Studios, a content and film studio division of 300 Entertainment and Warner Music Group he co-founded with Kevin Liles. In his role he leads the creative and content development strategies for the entire 300 Studios programming and development slate that includes 300 Unplugged, the Emmy winning Netflix series on NASCAR driver Bubba Wallace where he served as an Executive Producer, Music Supervisor, and Composer. Kelly is currently overseeing the development and production of several projects including a Hip Hop 50 doc with WMG and President Obama, a 3 part series on the collision between Hip Hop and Chicago House with D-Nice and Comcast, and several other music and culturally based films and projects.   

Shveta Kakar is a Partner at Fox Rothschild. Highly experienced in nonprofit law, she advises nonprofit organizations on corporate, transactional and governance issues and conducts internal investigations and litigates on behalf of her nonprofit clients.  Shveta routinely counsels clients on fiduciary duties of directors and officers, conducts board trainings and provides advice on all issues that affect tax-exempt organizations: from compliance with state and federal laws, lobbying and political activities, private benefit and inurement, fiscal sponsorships, charitable giving and endowment administration and management, to internal controls and conflicts of interests/related party transaction. In addition, she routinely handles all aspects of a nonprofit's life cycle, from incorporating, obtaining tax-exempt status, governance and compliance, including drafting and reviewing bylaws and policies and other major events in corporate life, such as sales of property, mergers, consolidations, restructuring, asset sales and dissolution. She also acts as principal outside counsel for a number of her nonprofit clients, reviewing and drafting contracts, pledges, grant agreements and releases and coordinating their legal needs, from insurance, privacy, real estate and employment to intellectual property.

Mitra Hormozi O'Neill. A Partner at Kaplan Martin, Mitra is a veteran trial attorney, a former federal prosecutor and general counsel with extensive experience working on behalf of clients facing regulatory investigations, internal investigations, and compliance matters. She has directed numerous investigations for organizations faced with allegations of workplace misconduct, discrimination and fraud.  Mitra has tried cases at the trial and appellate level and has experience serving as a court-appointed  special master. As Executive Vice President and General Counsel of Revlon, Inc., Mitra oversaw legal, compliance and regulatory operations for the publicly traded, multinational consumer products company. Prior to her role at Revlon, Mitra was a litigation partner at two nationally recognized law firms, where she represented corporations and individuals in connection with investigations conducted by the United States Department of Justice (DOJ), New York State Department of Financial Services (DFS), New York Attorney General and Manhattan District Attorney's Offices.

John Rose was a Senior Partner and Managing Director at the Boston Consulting Group until July 2024, John has transitioned to a Senior Partner Emeritus and Senior Advisor role where he continues to support the Firm's consulting work in the media and private equity spaces.  Prior to transitioning to his new role, John c-founded and led BCG's private equity practice, global media practice, and Northeast state and local government practice.  He also spent a period as a BCG Fellow, working with the World Economic Forum on issues and opportunities in data analytics, machine learning, and AI with a specific focus on the use of personal data and related privacy/trust issues.  In addition to John's current role at BCG, he is an Executive Advisor at Rockefeller Capital, a strategic advisor to several large cap and start- up private sector companies, and on the boards of the Citizen's Budget Commission, New York Public Radio, and Metropolitan Opera.  John is also an adjunct faculty member at NYU's Stern School of Business where he teaches a course on strategy and transformation in the context of disruption and uncertainty.

Candice Cook Simmons, Esq. is a C-Suite Entertainment Executive, business strategist, and attorney whose experience has ranged from being the attorney responsible for trademarking and scaling the Cronut pastry for Dominique Ansel where she led the organization's legal and business strategy garnering international acclaim and recognition from Time Magazine to The Wall Street Journal to serving as an advisor to Iqram Magdon Ismail—the co-founder of Venmo.  She has been named a “Super Lawyer/Rising Star” and was recognized as one of the Top 50 Women in Media for 2023 and has been nominated as one of the National Black Lawyer--Top 100 for the past six years. In addition to Playwrights Horizons, she serves on the Board of Directors for Greyston Bakery and on the Advisory Board to The HistoryMakers—the nation's largest African American video oral history archive.

Sean Walsh is a media and entertainment executive. He has experience working across streaming, television, digital media, location-based entertainment, consumer products, and theme parks. Sean began his career as a management consultant at Oliver Wyman, helping to establish operational excellence at various organizations within the aviation and financial services industries, as well as in the public sector. Sean began his entertainment career at The Walt Disney Company, where he held several corporate strategy roles across Disney Consumer Products & Interactive Media, Walt Disney Parks & Resorts, and ABC Entertainment. He was a Director of Strategy at NBCUniversal, where he helped develop Peacock's on-platform advertising strategy and execute NBCU's advanced advertising strategy at large. 

Steven Weinstock. Emmy award-winning producer Steven Weinstock is the co-president and co-CEO of both True Entertainment and Original Media, two of television's leading producers of unscripted and scripted programming. Weinstock co-founded True Entertainment in 2000, alongside business and producing partner Glenda Hersh. Endemol acquired the mega-successful True in 2003, and in 2015, Weinstock (along with Hersh), also assumed the helm of Original Media (also an Endemol Shine North America company). Weinstock and Hersh now lead creative, development, programming and operations for both companies.

About Playwrights Horizons

Playwrights Horizons is a writer's theater committed to the advancement of bold and visionary contemporary playwrights, through the development and production of daring new work and the education of future theatermakers. 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 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. By expanding the U.S. theater canon with a wider range of voices, Playwrights Horizons aims to be a home for the exploration of playwriting and an anti-racist center of curiosity, dialogue, and artistic risk.

Playwrights Horizons offers a season of productions annually on their two stages. Each production is a world, U.S., or New York premiere. Additionally, writers are supported in every stage of their growth through the New Works Lab, a commissions program (supporting several of today's most imaginative playwrights each year), and Almanac (a literary magazine about the theatrical art form). 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.

Ultimately, Playwrights Horizons believes that playwrights are the great storytellers of our time, offering essential contributions to civic discourse and illuminating life's paradoxes. And they believe in the singularity of each writer's voice, valuing the broad, eclectic spectrum and diversity of U.S. writers.

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