History Theatre names next artistic director

Minnesota theater artist Richard D. Thompson would be the subsequent inventive director of St. Paul’s Historical past Theatre, the corporate introduced Friday.

Thompson will succeed Ron Peluso, who will step down at yr’s finish after 27 years on the helm.

Thompson’s first official day is ready for Jan. 10. He brings greater than 30 years of expertise as a director, administrator, choreographer, dramaturg, educator and performer to the function, based on the announcement.

“Historical past Theatre is an unparalleled group treasure and serving as its Creative Director shall be a pleasure and an honor,” Thompson said Friday. “The hours I’ve spent inside its partitions have deepened a conviction I’ve held since I first began studying historical past as a child: {that a} sense of the previous is crucial to all storytelling – and, in the end, to all human thriving.”

The Historical past Theatre, based in 1978, has staged greater than 100 world premieres.

The corporate’s various productions of each new and present works have explored the historical past of Minnesota, the Midwest and the broader, various American expertise by way of actual tales about actual folks.

Thompson beforehand served because the Managing Director and Affiliate Producer at St. Paul’s Penumbra Theatre. He’s additionally labored domestically for the Kids’s Theatre Firm, Blended Blood Theatre Firm, Playwrights’ Middle and Phantasm Theater in addition to out-of-state corporations together with The Kennedy Middle in Washington, D.C. and the Virginia Opera.

On the Historical past Theatre, Thompson has been concerned with productions for many years and has served as a producing and directing affiliate for the previous yr. 

In working carefully with Managing Director Karen Mueller, he’ll concentrate on each inventive and organizational well being within the new function. 

In an announcement Friday, Board President John Sebastian mentioned Thompson is a visionary theatre skilled, an advocate for inclusivity within the arts and a revered member of the Minnesota theatre group. 

“He brings a depth of expertise to this vital function for our theatre and the Board was most impressed along with his ardour for our mission and imaginative and prescient for our theatre’s future,” Sebastian said. “I stay up for Historical past Theatre’s progress below his inventive management.” 

Thompson will turn into the fourth inventive director within the Historical past Theatre’s 44 years.