Pig Iron Theatre Welcomes Laurie Ortega-Murphy As Managing Director

Pig Iron, Philadelphia's acclaimed creators of unpredictable performances, and founders of the University of the Arts/Pig Iron School M.F.A. program in Devised Performance, welcomes Laurie Ortega-Murphy as the company's new Managing Director beginning February 8, 2021.

Ortega-Murphy steps into their new role while the organization continues to navigate the challenges of making and teaching theater in the midst of the pandemic. In October 2020, Pig Iron's previous Managing Director, Maya Choldin, stepped down to accept a position as Executive Director of Theatre Calgary.

Pig Iron Board President Scott Reynolds served as Interim Managing Director until a successor could be found. Joining the team of eight staff members, Laurie Ortega-Murphy will bring their tremendous talent and experience to the organization. Ortega-Murphy is an administrator, artist and educator with a background in independent school and theater management, educational programming, and freelance producing. A graduate of the Yale School of Drama, they most recently served as the Director of Customer Success for Trackers Earth in Portland, OR, and as the Managing Editor of the Yale Theater Management Knowledge Base. Laurie served as an openly queer and non-binary Program Director for Boy Scouts of America.

They have held management positions at Yale Repertory Theatre, served as the artistic programming fellow at the New Victory Theater in New York City and as a board member for Tellin' Tales Theatre in Chicago, IL.

Ortega-Murphy expressed their intentions for assuming the role, "I have deep admiration for Pig Iron as a company and Philadelphia as a city, and I am honored to be invited into these communities. Our world needs ensembles like Pig Iron that explore the human experience through intensive collaboration, making space on stage for multiple perspectives and voices. I also look forward to continuing my work with colleagues across the nation in dismantling systemic oppression and to building a theater industry that is joyful, equitable, and anti-racist." Pig Iron worked closely with a search committee of stakeholders - artists, board members, and colleagues - to identify and select their next Managing Director.

Along with co-founders Quinn Bauriedel and Dan Rothenberg, members of the committee were Terry Guerin, former Board President, drama teacher at Friends Central (retired); Mark Langdon, Treasurer; Executive Director of Ballard Spahr LLP; Vanessa Ogbuehi, graduate of the UArts/Pig Iron Devised Performance Certificate Program, actor/director, and freelance brand strategist; Maiko Matsushima, Pig Iron costume and scenic designer, including for 2020's Zero Cost House for Zoom and upcoming collaboration with Josephine Decker; Kym Moore, Dean of the Ira Brind School of Theater at UArts, Co-founder/Co-Artistic Director of Antigravity Performance Project; Mikaal Sulaiman, actor, sound designer, filmmaker, and longtime Pig Iron collaborator

The committee cast a wide net, attracting applicants from across the country. It was essential to find someone who brought cross-disciplinary experience and bold ideas that could take on leadership of the internationally renowned company alongside the co-artistic directors, Dan Rothenberg, and Quinn Bauriedel, and the Pig Iron board of directors.

"I am thrilled to welcome Laurie Ortega-Murphy to Pig Iron. It is a pivotal time - for the company, the field, and the nation. Laurie brings joy to their work and also sees possibilities for theatre generally, and Pig Iron specifically, to re-imagine our work ahead. They will help the company to begin the next chapter of forward-looking performance and to train the next generations of theatrical rabble-rousers. Laurie brings a wealth of experience from a variety of industries, which I see as a great asset to the company as we move beyond our 25th year," said Quinn Bauriedel.

Ortega-Murphy will take producorial lead on several ambitious projects that are in development. Slated for Fall 2021, a re-mount of the company's 2006 production of Love Unpunished in honor of the 20th anniversary of the events of September 11th, and in development for Fall 2022 is a new collaboration with acclaimed filmmaker, Josephine Decker.

The Pig Iron school has just welcomed a new cohort of students into the M.F.A. program and continues to inspire students to find creative ways to reimagine what theater-making can look like on digital as well as analog platforms.

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