Matt Morrow Named New Executive Artistic Director of Diversionary Theatre

San Diego's Diversionary Theatre, one of the nation's longest running LGBT theater production companies, has announced the selection of a new Executive Artistic Director, after a months' long nation-wide search. Mr. Matt Morrow will take his place at the helm of the theater in November, bringing to the job extensive experience in directing, financial development, and a stint as the Associate Artistic Director of Pittsburgh's City Theatre Company.

Todd Nelms, who has been the Acting Executive Artistic Director of Diversionary since October 3, 2013, as well as serving as the President of the theater's Board of Trustees since July, noted that "We looked for a candidate with a keen knowledge of evolved LGBT theatrical productions, fundraising prowess, experience in developing new works, and excellent leadership and communication skills. In Mr. Morrow, we believe we found all of this and more. We firmly believe that he will lead our theater in a bold new direction."

Reached in New York, where he is wrapping up other directing and teaching commitments before taking the reins at Diversionary, Mr. Morrow had this to say about his goals for the future of the company:

"I look forward to building upon the theatre's commitment to new work and writers locally and from all over the world. New play development and production opportunities in this country are waning; I want to further develop Diversionary as a haven for writers and their work. I want to deepen and explore new work development models to find a better way to serve the writer beyond an endless cycle of staged readings. I also look forward to exploring new modes of management and production to support the work with the dedicated staff and board of Diversionary, all of whom are deeply committed to the organization. My central goal is to continue to grow the organization in a holistic way that is sensible and at the service of the artist."

"I'm most excited about producing new plays and musicals that push theatrical boundaries, but also rarely seen classic work, and re-envisioning this work for today's audience via the LGBT point of view. I'm attracted to work that explores what the LGBT experience means at this moment in time, both directly and indirectly. I'm interested in opening up the dialogue between the LGBT community and the community at large in an inclusive, thought provoking way that reveals our similarities and honors our differences. "

Mr. Morrow's candidacy was brought forward by a Search Committee headed by Diversionary Board Vice President, Darrell Netherton, and included Nelms and Tamara Keller from the theater's Board of Trustees, as well as six talented and accomplished community arts leaders: Larry Baza, Camille Davidson, Bill Eadie, Rob Granat, Sean Murray, and Marcus Overton. They advertised the position widely, and eventually received almost 60 applications from all over the United States, and from as far away as Hong Kong, Abu Dhabi, and South Africa. Through this process, the Search Committee succeeded in developing a broad and extremely talented pool of candidates,and Mr. Morrow was overwhelmingly picked as the "best of the bunch."

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