Theatre for Young Audiences USA Announces Sara Morgulis as New Executive Director

Theatre for Young Audiences USA has announced Sara Morgulis as the membership organization's next Executive Director, starting June 6, 2022. Following an extensive national executive search, the TYA/USA Board unanimously selected Morgulis to lead the national organization representing the creative community committed to the professional field of theatre for children, young adults, and families.

Morgulis succeeds Jonathan Shmidt Chapman, who served as Executive Director for five years. Says Nina Meehan, TYA/USA Board Chair, "Jonathan has been an incredible leader for the past five years, bringing TYA/USA to both a broader constituency than ever before and deepening our relationships across the field. Sara is the absolute perfect person to continue that growth and introduce new and exciting strategic initiatives that reflect this unique moment in theatre."

With over 15 years of extensive experience in both arts programming and arts education, Morgulis has dedicated her career to accessibility and inclusivity. She most recently served as the Director of Education at New York City Children's Theater, where she led arts education programs that annually served 100 NYC public schools, community centers, and homeless shelters. For four years, she also led the theatre and music portion of the Afterschool Reading Club (ARC) program, which brought literacy-based arts programming to students in Grades PreK-5 at 36 homeless shelters across the City every week.

In 2021, she created the "Trauma-Informed Toolkit for Educators," an online resource designed to provide educators with a deeper understanding of trauma and its effects on childhood development. She spearheaded the development of sensory-friendly performances in New York City Children's Theater's mainstage season, and an usher training and employment program for people with disabilities.

"I am beyond thrilled for TYA/USA and the greater TYA field that Sara Morgulis will be our next leader. The breadth and depth of her experience as an artist, educator, and leader inspire me. She has the vision, heart, and energy to brilliantly carry the organization into its next chapter" says Chapman, whose contributions to the arts sector includes co-authoring Envisioning the Future of Theatre for Young Audiences, a report with the National Endowment for the Arts, and growing the organization from 780 members to nearly 1,200 theatres, organizations, and individual arts professionals across 46 states.

Through Chapman's leadership of the organization and the wider field during the pandemic, TYA/USA found great success through robust virtual programming that brought the national TYA industry together, including: "Listen, Learn, Lead," a webinar series focused on antiracism across the TYA landscape; "Virtual Reality: Producing TYA Online and Off-Site," a virtual convening exploring best practices in creating theatre during the pandemic; and the organization's first and largest virtual festival and conference, which garnered over 1,300 participants. Chapman will officially step down from his position on June 3, 2022.

"I am amazed by the success that my colleague Jonathan Shmidt Chapman has achieved over the past five years in strengthening the field during a time of collective crisis," says Morgulis. "We have overcome enormous challenges by adapting and supporting each other as a resilient community and I am thrilled to continue that work through the organization's continuing lens of radical inclusivity and anti-oppressive practices. By supporting sustainability, collaboration, and innovation across our industry, I hope to call attention to both emerging leaders and growing organizations from all parts of the country."

Across various sectors of the field, Morgulis has worked as a TYA artist, educator, director, producer, and nonprofit leader. As the 2015 recipient of the TYA/USA Ann Shaw Fellowship, she worked with Oily Cart in London to research best theater practices for disabled youth audiences and developed the multisensory musical FIVE, which has since toured to over 8,500 students with disabilities in schools and homeless shelters across New York City.

Morgulis was also awarded the New York City Mayor's Grant for Cultural Impact, a high-profile grant designed to address a civic challenge through the power of creativity. She founded "Music and Multilingual Learners," an initiative to increase language acquisition and social-emotional learning for elementary school multilingual learners through music and theatre arts curriculum. In its pilot year, "Music and Multilingual Learners" served a total of 468 second-grade students across 20 classrooms across five elementary schools in the Bronx's District 10.

Creatively, Morgulis was the Associate Artistic Producer of the 2019 UP CLOSE Festival and is a freelance TYA producer and director. In collaboration with The Kennedy Center's David Kilpatrick, she devised New York City Children's Theater's first show for the very young, Please Bring Balloons. For the past 10 years, she has held several leadership positions with the neuroinclusive theatre company, Actionplay, where she curated self-advocacy and employment-focused theatre and music programming for and with Disabled artists. Her arts education work extends to CO/LAB Theater Group, Creative Arts Team, Miracle Project New York, Asolo Repertory Theatre, Syracuse Stage, and People's Light.

Morgulis is an Adjunct Faculty Member for the MFA in Performing Arts Management Program at Brooklyn College, and a Disability Services and Accessibility Consultant for the CUNY's MA in Applied Theatre program. She has served on the Museum, Arts and Culture Access Consortium Steering Committee and has been on the Board of Directors for the NYC Arts in Education Roundtable since 2021. For TYA/USA, she has served on the TYA/USA Fellowship Selection Panel to help cultivate future leaders, and has presented "The Virtual Special Needs Classroom" (May 2020) and "Trauma-Informed TYA Programming for School Re-Entry" (October 2021) to the membership at large.

TYA/USA is the United States Center of ASSITEJ International, the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People.

About TYA/USA

Theatre for Young Audiences/USA (TYA/USA) is the leading national organization representing over 1,200 member theatres, organizations, and individual arts professionals across the United States committed to the professional field of theatre for children, young adults, and families. Dedicated to ensuring that all young people have access to high-quality theatre experiences, TYA/USA offers a variety of programming that connects professionals working in the sector through in-person gatherings and virtual sessions; provides opportunities for field-wide learning and leadership development; disseminates field news and research through a variety of print and online channels; and advances the field both internally and externally through a range of advocacy efforts. Founded in 1965, TYA/USA is the only theatre organization in the United States which has the development of professional theatre for young audiences and international exchange as its primary mandates. TYA/USA is the United States Center for the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People (ASSITEJ). More information can be found at www.tyausa.org.

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