Creative director Hana S. Sharif has introduced her resignation from Washington, D.C.’s Area Stage, efficient June 30. In an e mail despatched June 26, Sharif stated she discovered herself in battle with Area Stage’s board.
“Finally, the Board and I arrived at a crossroads—one outlined not by a scarcity of shared love for this establishment, however by differing visions for a way Area Stage ought to meet the long run,” she wrote in an e mail to the theatre’s board of trustees, which was supplied to Playbill. “What artwork belongs at its heart, how its groups needs to be constructed and empowered to evolve, and what a sustainable path ahead actually requires.”
The New York Instances first reported the information. An announcement from the Area Stage press workplace reads: “This fall, the Board of Trustees will start planning for an Creative Director search as half of a bigger strategic planning course of.
“Area Stage will proceed to be led by Edgar Dobie, President and Government Producer, who joined Area Stage in 2009, and a first-class senior administration workforce.”
This abrupt departure is stunning, contemplating the brief size of Sharif’s tenure, changing into the Tony-winning D.C. establishment’s first Black feminine chief when she took the reigns in 2023, and including the corporate to a really brief listing of main theatre firms run by Black artists. Beforehand, Sharif led the Repertory Theater of St. Louis.
Throughout her time at Area Stage, the corporate premiered the musical Swept Away, which briefly performed Broadway, and it has fostered quite a few different exhibits with industrial ambitions, together with Chez Joey (a reimagining of Rodgers and Hart’s Pal Joey), a re-written Rattling Yankees, and CrazySexyCool – The TLC Musical (which opened June 26).
Area Stage additionally lately introduced its 2026–27 season, its 76th, which features a new musical about Nikola Tesla. However in her e mail, Sharif stated that regardless of premiering 9 new works at Area Stage in her tenure, she additionally skilled quite a few challenges. “Over the course of my tenure, I’ve witnessed our discipline bear a profound and irreversible transformation—one which has demanded not solely creative braveness, however a reimagining of the very programs, processes, and constructions that maintain our establishments. I’ve approached that problem with all the things I’ve.”
Under is the total textual content of Sharif’s resignation letter.
Pricey Board of Trustees,
After cautious reflection and significant dialogue with the Area Stage Board Management and Edgar Dobie, I’m saying my resignation as Creative Director, efficient June 30, 2026.
Main Area Stage has been one of many best honors of my skilled life. Over the course of my tenure, I’ve witnessed our discipline bear a profound and irreversible transformation — one which has demanded not solely creative braveness, however a reimagining of the very programs, processes, and constructions that maintain our establishments. I’ve approached that problem with all the things I’ve.
Finally, the Board and I arrived at a crossroads — one outlined not by a scarcity of shared love for this establishment, however by differing visions for a way Area Stage ought to meet the long run: what artwork belongs at its heart, how its groups needs to be constructed and empowered to evolve, and what a sustainable path ahead actually requires. It’s exactly due to my deep respect for this group that I imagine this transition is the proper and trustworthy alternative for us each.
I go away enormously pleased with what we’ve got constructed collectively. Throughout my tenure, Area Stage produced 9 world premieres, 8 second step productions, superior 8 commercially enhanced productions that prolonged our attain and influence, launched 62 daring activations serving 274,627 patrons, and deepened {our relationships} with the communities we exist to serve. This neighborhood now consists of 55,691 New-to-File households and a complete of 344,765 patrons, representing 68% of our viewers over the past three years. None of that’s small. None of that’s forgotten.
I hope you’ll be part of me in thanking the artists, workers, audiences, and neighborhood members who’ve trusted Area with their tales, their voices, and their presence over the past three years. They’re the rationale this work issues.
I step away with full confidence in Area Stage’s future and with an formidable imaginative and prescient I look ahead to bringing to new communities hungry for artwork, innovation, and management that balances threat with objective.
With deep gratitude and enduring respect,
Hana S. Sharif
