In a Q&A with Intiman's executive director Phillip Chavira, Andrew Russell announced that he's stepping down as the theater's artistic director. He'd been there for nine years.
So what's next for the guy who brought Intiman back from the dead, paid off its sizable debt, adjusted its eyes to the size of its stomach, helped launch some good community-building programs, and partnered with some great local producers to create some very fine productions all along the way, including at least one I recommended seeing twice? Well, from the headline you can guess he's going to New York. But what is he going to do in the Big Apple?
Spend more time writing and directing musicals! 🎉
In the interview, Russell says he plans to work on three musicals that were developed right here in Seattle: Stu for Silverton, which is about America's first transgender mayor; The Long Game, a musical about journalists and whistleblowers that he's co-writing with Richard Gray; and The Rumble Within, a musical he describes as "a mix of Jenny Craig and Sweeney Todd."
He also says he's "working on developing a musical with [!!] and about the life of Big Freedia."
Former Stranger theater critic Brendan Kiley reviewed Stu for Silverton against the wishes of its makers when it debuted at Intiman back in 2013. In the service of the audience members Intiman was charging to see it, Kiley did his due diligence and determined the musical was "just not ready yet." Perhaps Russell will be able to whip it into shape in NY.
The former assistant to Tony Kushner listed his collaborations with Jennifer Zeyl, Valerie Curtis-Newton, and a "hysterical and moving conversation" at Town Hall Seattle between Mr. Kushner and Dan Savage among the many highlights of his career at Intiman. Russell's direction of his former boss' Angels In America that year drew praise from Annie Wagner and less-than-praise from Kiley.
Russell says he thinks now is the right time to leave his post "because it is important for artistic leadership to change so that the perspectives of guidance shift and grow with the times, because it is time for others to bring their incredible skills and talents around the big table—I’ve used my midwestern might to move us this far and now we need a new approach, and because we need more women and people of color in leadership."
Barbara Lewis, president-elect of Intiman's board, told me by phone that Russell's decision to leave did not come as a shock to her. "He's been talking about doing other things for several months now," she said.
Board members are still working through their options for replacement, and though Lewis said the board would prefer to hire a woman and/or person of color for the position, she also said she couldn't guarantee anything.
Russell's replacement will "certainly be a big topic" at the board meeting this month, she said, adding that the theater company is looking forward to a "seamless transition" of leadership that she hopes will only take about two or three months to sort out.
