The Coca-Cola stage on the Alliance Theatre. (Photograph by Leonid Furmansky)
On August 1, Brandon Kahn begins working as the brand new managing director of the Alliance Theatre, changing longtime chief Mike Schleifer, who left after 11 years to turn into the subsequent managing director of Lincoln Middle Theater.
In a current Zoom interview, Kahn spoke about his enthusiasm for the brand new job at Atlanta’s Tony award-winning skilled theater.
“The secret is that we wish to construct upon what has been established on the Alliance,” he stated. “You wish to honor the historical past and the work that everyone has carried out for the years previous to us to actually make the corporate what it’s. The Alliance is named a frontrunner within the regional theater world. Folks look to it not only for the exhibits which can be programmed, just like the Broadway-bound exhibits, but in addition for the Theater for Younger Audiences programming, for its schooling program and for the neighborhood outreach the corporate’s doing.”
In main the Alliance, Kahn joins Creative Administrators Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Christopher Moses, who crammed their posts in 2023.
Extra on ArtsATL: Moses, Kajese-Bolden mirror on “doubled potentialities” in Alliance management roles
In a joint assertion, Kajese-Bolden and Moses stated they can’t wait to welcome Kahn to Atlanta.
“He brings not solely a depth {of professional} expertise to the job however a real and enthusiastic perception in our specific mission and neighborhood,” they stated. “His experience and aspirational outlook are the proper match for the Alliance and this metropolis as we proceed to think about daring new methods to develop our impression each right here at residence and on the nationwide stage.”
Kahn will relocate to Atlanta from Houston, the place he has served as common supervisor of Alley Theatre since 2018. Previous to that, he labored in managerial positions for six seasons on the Williamstown Theatre Pageant in Massachusetts. He has additionally labored as a contract stage supervisor for 10 years in New York, engaged on 5 Broadway exhibits and 6 Off-Broadway exhibits. He holds a grasp’s diploma in Theater Administration & Producing from Columbia College.
Kahn stated his work at Alley Theatre supplied him with lots of precious expertise overseeing a big operation, which he’ll convey to the brand new job.
“The Alley is analogous in measurement and scale to the Alliance,” he stated. “We produce 11 exhibits a 12 months, do A Christmas Carol and have a really related construction. And lots of it relies upon upon the individuals– constructing relationships and attending to know the neighborhood right here. I used to be capable of put in revolutionary and efficient methods.”
Implementing new methods of functioning on the Alley helped it thrive, notably after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I believe methods actually create the tradition of an area,” he stated. “The Alley confronted some challenges, and we have been capable of make some nice, nice strikes, arrange new methods and do some revolutionary work.”
He added that he desires to construct upon what has been established on the Alliance, permitting for development right into a financially sustainable mannequin that may thrive for years. His first main enterprise would be the January opening of the brand new Goizueta Stage for Youth & Households on the campus on the Woodruff Arts Middle, a renovation of the area previously generally known as the Wealthy Auditorium.
“I sit up for having the ability to open this area and to dream with Chris and Tinashe about what it can turn into through the years,” he stated. “The general purpose is making theater a birthright for the individuals of Atlanta so that everyone can expertise one thing on our levels. The area is simply going to permit us to take action a lot great work for younger individuals and household audiences. And they’ll turn into theater lovers over time, carrying that feeling whether or not they keep in Atlanta or go some place else.”
Kahn is happy to convey his family to Atlanta. He and his spouse Jennifer have two sons, Hudson and Judah.
“I discover it to be so particular that I can convey my household to see exhibits on the theater the place I work,” he stated. “That was one of many issues we talked to them about — that they’re going to have the ability to see extra exhibits than simply A Christmas Carol at my work.”
The 2025 Tony winner for Greatest Musical, Perhaps Joyful Ending, premiered on the Alliance in 2020, certainly one of 11 Alliance exhibits to have ultimately gone to Broadway. Being part of that legacy is thrilling to Kahn, but the regional impression of the area can also be necessary to him. He at the moment serves on the board and as secretary for the League of Resident Theatres, a collective bargaining affiliation of greater than 70 regional nonprofit theater organizations.
One other facet of the brand new job that appeals to him is having the ability to coordinate with the opposite organizations on the Woodruff campus: the Excessive Museum of Artwork and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
“It’s a really distinctive mannequin,” he stated. “I’m actually excited to take a look at the advantages of being in a multi-arts campus and to see how that cross-collaboration actually works. It’s a very, actually nice mannequin that could possibly be useful in displaying how different arts organizations would possibly do it sooner or later across the nation.”
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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Affiliation, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Membership and the Horror Writers Affiliation. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as a part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Quick Play Pageant and on-line in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was printed by The Story Plant.
