Adam Siegel.
NEW YORK CITY: The Second Stage Theater board of trustees has announced that Adam Siegel, currently managing director of Lincoln Center Theater, will be Second Stage Theater’s new executive director starting in April 2025, following a month-long transition period. Interim executive director Lisa Lawer Post, who stepped in when Khady Kamara left the post in 2023, will continue in her position until then. Siegel will partner with artistic director Evan Cabnet, another former Lincoln Center Theater leader who joined the organization in September 2024, and will officially launch his first season of programming in fall 2025.
“I am thrilled and honored to be joining Second Stage Theater, an organization whose mission, artistic integrity, and commitment to excellence and continued growth have made it one of the premiere theaters in the country,” said Siegel in a statement. “Plus, this opportunity to join forces with my good friend and colleague, artistic director Evan Cabnet—with whom I have worked for over 20 years, including the last eight years at Lincoln Center Theater—was an opportunity I simply could not pass up.”
As managing director of LCT since 2012 and general manager from 2002 to 2012, Siegel, a three-time Tony winner, produced and oversaw more than 100 plays and musicals in the three-theatre venue on the Lincoln Center campus, as well as on Broadway, on tour, and internationally. A select list of key productions include The King and I, Oslo, A View From the Bridge, Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, War Horse, Awake and Sing!, Henry IV, and Contact. Other notable productions include The Light in the Piazza, Falsettos, Other Desert Cities, Pipeline, and the Pulitzer-winning Disgraced.
In this position, he was responsible for the organization’s business operations, with direct oversight of general management, marketing/publicity, finance, human resources/equity and diversity, production management, front of house, and box office. Siegel reported to the board of directors and served on multiple board committees to provide insights and strategic advice. He established both board and staff-level EDI committees, serving on both, and he developed an anti-racism action plan for internal accountability.
“Adam Siegel is one of the great leaders of the American theatre,” said Cabnet in a statement. “His creativity, vision, intelligence, generosity, and wisdom has had a profound impact on me and on everyone lucky enough to work with him at Lincoln Center Theater. Adam’s positive impact on the field, both in New York and beyond, is immeasurable. I am proud to call him a friend, and am so excited to continue our professional and artistic collaboration at Second Stage.”
During his tenure, Siegel managed multiple capital projects, including the construction of the Claire Tow Theater on the roof and instituted all its operating systems to integrate with the organization at large. In addition, he handled negotiations for all union contracts while maintaining good relationships with 11 theatrical unions, and was the lead on negotiations for all individual contracts with authors, directors, designers, and actors.
A League of Resident Theatres (LORT) member since 2013, Siegel served as president of the organization from 2020 to 2024. As president during the Covid pandemic, he negotiated shutdown terms, new media streaming opportunities, and reopening protocols. He also served as lead negotiator for the most recent Actor’s Equity Association and United Scenic Artists agreements, having served on every LORT negotiating committee since 2002.
Second Stage Theater is a nonprofit theatre company founded in 1979 by Robyn Goodman and Carole Rothman that produces work by living American writers both on and Off-Broadway. As of 2022, they have a total budget of approximately $29 million.
