Quintessence Appoints David Lloyd Olson New Managing Director

Janice Bogen, Interim Chair of the Board of Directors of Quintessence Theatre Group (QTG) announced today that the company has hired David Lloyd Olson to be its new Managing Director. Olson comes to Philadelphia from The Shakespeare Company in Washington, DC where he helped run the nation's pre-eminent Shakespeare theater. He is also the founder and manager of his own award-winning experimental theater company, Pointless Theatre Company. Olson started at QTG on August 5.

Under the leadership of the former Executive Director Patricia Stranahan, who retired on July 31, QTG became an Equity theatre, grew its administrative staff by 50%, increased ticket sales by 35% and raised the annual operating budget to $875,000. After three years of unprecedented growth, QTG and its board of directors are excited to welcome David Lloyd Olson, who will join Founding Artistic Director Alex Burns, to lead the next chapter and to celebrate ten years of progressive classical theater in Philadelphia.

ABOUT David Lloyd OLSON

David Lloyd Olson spent six years at the Shakespeare Theatre Company where he served as Manager of the Executive Office and Board Engagement. He will also be stepping down from his position as Board Chair and Managing Director at Pointless Theatre Company, one of the leading experimental theatre companies in the Washington/Baltimore region. David was an Allen Lee Hughes Management Fellow at Arena Stage and a Fulbright English Teaching Assistant in Valmiera, Latvia. He has twice been the recipient of a D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities Arts and Humanities Fellowship Program grant, and he was on the host committee for the 2016 Theatre Communications Group National Conference. David was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, and received degrees in Theatre and Government and Politics from the University of Maryland.

In 2019-2020, QUINTESSENCE THEATRE GROUP will celebrate 10 years of bringing award-winning progressive classical theater to Philadelphia audiences. Critically acclaimed, QTG performs works of classic drama and literature in ways relevant to today's audiences while remaining true to each play's scope and poetic text. For more information, please go to www.QTGrep.org.

QTG's 10th anniversary season includes The Synge Festival (September 18-October 27), a month-long celebration of Ireland's most celebrated playwright, J.M. Synge, including fully stage productions of The Playboy of the Western World, Riders to the Sea, In the Shadow of the Glen and The Tinker's Wedding. QTG will continue its tradition of family holiday classics with a reimagined production of L. Frank Baum's The Wizard of Oz (November 27-December 29). From January 29 to February 16, it will present an American classic, Angelina Weld Grimké's Rachel, QTG's first exploration of the African-American diaspora. And it will end its 10th season with The Madness and Dreams Repertory, QTG's first three show repertory, which will include Shakespeare's A Midsummer Night's Dream, Calderón's Life is a Dream and Camus' Caligula (March 25-May 10). Subscriptions are now on sale for Season X at www.QTGrep.org.

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