Well, that was easy. The new Managing Director of the Long Wharf Theatre is the guy who’s been doing the job for the last six months.
When Josh Borenstein assumed the title of Interim Managing Director at the theater this spring—in the wake of Ray Cullom’s sudden departure and just as the 2010-2011 season was ending—it was under the auspices of AMS Planning and Research Corp. Borenstein was still working for AMS, a company that studies the marketability and sustainability of arts organizations, when Long Wharf subcontracted his services to help them sustain their theater directly.
At that time, the search for a new Managing Director hadn’t yet begun, and no names were mentioned as being on a short list. A national search eventually did happen, under new Long Wharf board chair Charles Kingsley, and Borenstein must have made quite an impression.
Borenstein served Long Wharf previously as Associate Managing Director (under Michael Stotts and then Joan Channick) from 2003-2008. He knows how to roll with changes at the theater. He was around when the big talk was about Long Wharf (the theater) leaving Long Wharf (the wharf) and moving downtown. Then he was around this year, when that plan was wisely scuttled and the theater decided to renew its lease longterm and make extensive renovations to its auditorium.
Josh Borenstein brings a rare and extremely describable combination to the Long Wharf: youth and experience. He attended the Yale School of Drama, so he was travelling in New Haven theater circles (and studying with some of the great theater management minds) before his first stint at Long Wharf. But he’s also of a generation that’s having to rethink how theaters are run.
The future looks bright. The Long Wharf board must be happy that the selection process for a new Managing Director went so smoothly, and the other Long Wharf administrators must be thriller that there’s no difficult transition to effect; Borenstein’s already on board.
Now let’s hear about those renovation plans!