Playwrights’ Center still without Artistic Director

The Playwrights' Center in Minneapolis, one of the leading incubators of new plays in the nation, said goodbye to its producing artistic director, Polly Carl, last August. Carl gave the PWC a few months notice of her departure, and the center's board launched a national search for someone to replace her.

Now, more than seven months later, it's back to the drawing board.

According to Erika Eklund, PWC Director of Development, the board is re-opening the search, because "the initial process didn't result in identifying someone for the position."

While Eklund says the second search will be as efficient (read that "quick") as possible, it does mean an extended gap between leaders. In light of that, Managing Director Craig Harris has been renamed Interim Director.

So what does it say that the Playwrights' Center was not able to draw up a substantial enough list of candidates to find at least one who would take the position? In a recession you would think you'd have more than enough qualified individuals to choose from. Eklund says it's a function of the unique qualities of how the organization works and how it's funded (in part, but not wholly through membership).

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