Intiman Announces New Executive Director Phillip Chavira

As Intiman Theatre grows its staff, the organization announces a new Executive Director position to work alongside other leadership, including the new Co-Curator position. Intiman is thrilled to announce that Phillip Chavira will be filling this new role.

Phillip is a producer and activist with a history of producing Broadway and New York City Non-Profit Theater. In 2016, Chavira received a Tony nomination and made Broadway history co-producing the first all-female cast, director and playwright team on ECLIPSED, the story of five extraordinary women brought together by upheaval in their homeland of Liberia. He brings his knowledge and experience to Intiman as the theatre works to give power to diverse voices and stories.

"My producing motto is 'Keep Color On Stage', which means high-level managers hire diverse staff that chose equally inclusive scripts, and find the means to make it happen. I was fortunate to see this decision-making cycle in full effect on the Broadway production of ECLIPSED, where I learned about diversity focus and dedication from Stephen Byrd and Alia Jones Harvey - the only African American full-time Broadway producers," Chavira said. "I work with artists that support equality and rights for all, and this is why I am joining the Intiman family. I am so happy to have found a new home at Intiman and join progressive artists who work daily for equality."

Chavira joins Producing Artistic Director Andrew Russell and Board President Kevin Malgesini as one of three key partners in leading Intiman, working together to nurture the artistic vitality, financial sustainability and core values of the organization.

The Intiman board of trustees conducted a national search for the position and met candidates both local and from across the United States.

"With his clear mission alignment and strong managerial experience, Phillip was the clear choice to partner with to write the next chapter in Intiman's long history. We are so excited to welcome him," Malgesini said. "The last five years have been such an incredible adventure. In 2012, the board made a bold choice in partnering with Andrew Russell to re-imagine Intiman's operating model. That partnership has been incredibly fruitful and artistically rewarding, yielding over 16 major productions, original works and programming. Through increased fiscal stability and a clarified mission we knew it was time to add another partner into the fold as we look ahead."

2017 is a big year of growth for Intiman. Earlier this year, the theatre announced a partnership with co-curator Sara Porkalob and revealed its 2017 programming plans and focus on intersectionality. To support these commitments, Intiman is currently running a campaign to create community and support around socially progressive theatre in Seattle through their campaign #ShowTheLove.

"Seattle gave me a very warm welcome when I first started at Intiman in 2009 and moved myself from NYC. I cannot wait to support and partner with Phillip as he makes Seattle his home," Russell said. "Phillip brings a full history of producing with non-profit and commercial theatre. He believes wholeheartedly in the mission and what we've been trying to make happen in Seattle over the last five years."

Throughout his career, Chavira has worked with artistic directors and producers who choose teams and productions that provide diverse employment on and off stage. In 2016, Chavira helped support The Ten Thousand Girls Campaign, which was created to bring underprivileged youth to experience live theater for the first time. Chavira was a Producing Partner at Broadway Production Company Davelle and co-founded non-profit theater company Partly Cloudy People to empower female talent. He also worked as the Global HR Manager at Fabberz.com, a digital fabrication studio with urban factories in NYC and London. He has his MBA from Fordham University and BA from Indiana University of Pennsylvania. He was the recipient of the Black and Hispanic MBA Association 2016 Alumni of the Year Award.

Through professional productions, community partnerships and training programs, Intiman Theatre will make it possible for over two dozen intersectional stories to be shared live and onstage over the course of 2017.

Intiman will kick off its year on June 1 with a major production featuring a cast of 10 local actors that explores racial politics, addiction and family in a hysterical and bold way. BARBECUE by Robert O'Hara and directed by Malika Oyetimein, is a take on the classic American family story in a way not seen before onstage. BARBECUE will run June 1 - June 25.

Intiman's second major production is the world premiere of DRAGON LADY, a Filipina gangster musical about a 60-year-old matriarch, six women, three generations and one murder.

Written and performed by Sara Porkalob and directed by Andrew Russell, this production is the culmination of several years of work and tells an intersectional story from an immigrant's perspective. DRAGON LADY will be performed at The Floyd and Delores Jones Playhouse at the University of Washington September 7-October 1.

With a mission to produce relevant theatre that reflects our diverse community, Intiman is working to champion diversity onstage and off by creating new learning opportunities for theatre artists with a variety of backgrounds and experiences.

For the third year, Intiman will produce the Intiman Emerging Artists Program (IEAP), a free program that brings 30 up-and-coming local artists together during the summer for free professional training and development that prepares them to work professionally in the region. In 2016 the cohort was 73 percent people of color and 63 percent female-identified.

Tickets will go on sale through Intiman Theatre's website in March.

Intiman Theatre is a community engaged and socially progressive theatre that produces produces plays, readings and events that are exciting, relevant to our time and as diverse as the community in which we live. A Tony Award-winning regional theatre, Intiman has presented over 225 productions to Seattle audiences that wrestle American inequities and start important conversations.

Over the last five years Intiman has focused on producing models and stories that celebrate those that do not always get their stories told, including: 20 plays by Black women in 2016; Robert O'Hara's uproarious satire BOOTYCANDY in 2015; Tony Kushner's epic ANGELS IN AMERICA in 2014; the premier of STU FOR SILVERTON, a new musical about the first openly transgender mayor in America in 2013; and MIRACLE!, created and directed by Dan Savage, in 2012.

With a priority to place inclusive, diverse stories on stage, Intiman also created a Co-Curator leadership model in 2016 and partnered with notable local and national artist Valerie Curtis-Newton. With the success of this effort, Intiman staff and board made the decision to solidify and strengthen the Co-Curator position as an official change to its leadership model as a move toward equitable theatre producing.

For more information, visit intiman.org and follow Intiman on Facebook, Twitter and on Intiman.org.

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