by Bret Fetzer

It's a modest regime change, but it's not every day a 10-year-old arts organization loses its founding artistic director. DJ Hamilton started Theatre Babylon in 1992 in a teeny-tiny performance space on Eastlake, initially with a more or less monthly cabaret, gradually squeezing actual plays into a stage that measured around five by eight feet. Currently Theatre Babylon shares two modest but flexible performance spaces at the Union Garage, a building on 10th Avenue that Babylon cohabits with A Theatre Under the Influence, as well as renting space out to a variety of nomadic theater groups. Hamilton submitted his letter of resignation to Babylon in early September, pleading the need to return his focus to his own creative work.

A search committee interviewed four candidates and made a swift choice: Babylon's new artistic director is John Longenbaugh, playwright, former theater critic for the Seattle Weekly, and producer of Carlotta's Late Night Holiday Wing-Ding.

When did you first get involved with Theatre Babylon? My first affiliation was the most recent NineHoles [Babylon's semi-regular evening of 10-minute plays], but like with most good theater companies, my first real connection was going to the party for that show. I talked to various Babylon members, who were all saying the same thing--that the theater needed a change of direction. At that point DJ had made no announcement, and I'm only just starting to learn all the inner politics....

Which I'm sure are labyrinthine. Like any company that's been around for 10 years. Before NineHoles all I'd done was review their shows, and most of the time I wasn't giving them very good reviews--I don't think there's ever been a company that had a critic who was so harsh on them, who then ended up leading the company.

Why did you want to be artistic director? Yussef El Guindi [whose play Finishing School was produced by Babylon in the most recent season] said to me, "They're the only company in town with a completely open-door policy to local work." I thought that's kind of true, and it should be true: There should always be one company in town that says, "Send us your plays"--like the Statue of Liberty, "Send us your huddled scripts." And I have immense respect for the core group of talent there--Anna Constant, Brad Cook, those folks.

In what new direction do you see Babylon heading? In terms of actors and production values, Babylon has gotten better and better and better. But they've been putting up some stuff that was not really worthy of production at that point. I'm a huge fan of play development--my dream season is not four shows, but four shows, two full workshops, five to six developmental workshops, and play readings every other week. What I want to see is a vast number of plays, and I'm well situated to find them.

Do you anticipate doing your own work? Not in the first year. Except maybe--we have a series of one-off events planned, or I might work as a script doctor on a late-night.