Chesapeake Shakespeare Company

AD Gallanar Elected to STA Leadership Post

Ian Gallanar, the founding artistic director of the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in Baltimore, Maryland, has been elected vice president and president-elect of the Shakespeare Theatre Association (STA). The election came as the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company was hosting the STA's annual meeting last week.

Gallanar will serve for two years with the international association's incoming president Melissa Nicholson, director of the Gamut Theatre group in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and will be in line to become the organization's next president.

Gallanar's career as a professional artistic director spans more than 25 years. He founded the Chesapeake Shakespeare Company in 2002. Previously, he served as artistic director for the National Theatre for Children, Minnesota Shakespeare in the Park, and the Repertory Theater of America. He is a member of the National Theatre Conference and a recipient of the Distinguished Alumni Award from Indiana University of Pennsylvania.

“It's truly an honor to be able to give back to an organization that has given so much to our theater company through the years,” Gallanar said in a press release.

At the STA meeting, theater leaders and practitioners discussed artistic and management challenges and practices. Hot topics this year included the globalization of art, the diversification of audiences, and the evolving role of 21st century technologies in preserving and conveying the cultural significance and rich language of William Shakespeare's 400-year-old plays.

The Shakespeare Theatre Association is comprised of the artistic directors, managing directors, and education directors of more than 120 theater festivals and companies.

January 31, 2017

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