Suzanne Appel. (Photo by Todd Rosenberg)
COSTA MESA, CALIF.: South Coast Repertory and its board of trustees have announced that Suzanne Appel will be the theatre’s new managing director. The appointment follows a national search. Appel, who will leave her current job as managing director of New York City’s Vineyard Theatre, will join artistic director David Ivers as co-chief executive officer of the Tony-winning theatre, now celebrating its 60th season, in September. Appel succeeds Paula Tomei, who announced her departure last November after 30 years in the position. That makes Appel only the second managing director in SCR’s history.
“The search generated a pool of uniquely experienced, diverse candidates, among whom Suzanne was exceptional,” said Talya Nevo-Hacohen, president of SCR’s board of trustees and chair of the search committee, in a statement. “She brings an impressive track record of strategic leadership, fiscal responsibility, and fund-raising to SCR. We sought someone who could build on SCR’s strong foundation with creativity and innovation. With Ivers and Appel leading, we are expertly positioned to embrace the future.”
Working in partnership with Ivers, Appel will be responsible for providing strategic leadership for SCR’s long-term sustainability and growth, and will oversee SCR’s business operations, including fund-raising, marketing, and community relations for the theatre, which has an annual operating budget of $12.6 million and assets of $74.7 million.
“This is a thrilling moment for South Coast Repertory,” said Ivers in a statement. “The appointment of Suzanne Appel as managing director reinforces our place as a driving force in the landscape of the American theatre. I am honored to be in partnership with such an accomplished and invigorating leader. Suzanne brings with her a wealth of experience, accomplishments, and vision. Her natural charisma and ambition are matched only by her curiosity and love of theatre. I am confident ours will be a winning partnership for SCR.”
Said Appel in a statement, “I am humbled by the opportunity to continue Paula’s incredible work providing Orange County audiences with access to theatre that has a national impact far beyond Southern California. David Ivers’s commitment to supporting voices representing a broad diversity of American cultural experience, particularly through the Pacific Playwrights Festival, is simply inspiring. I am looking forward to joining David, the board, and the incredible team at SCR in welcoming audiences to share in the awe-inspiring theatre that awaits them at South Coast Repertory.”
Of her seven-plus at the Vineyard, Appel added, “Working with artistic directors Sarah Stern and Douglas Aibel and the whole team at Vineyard Theatre has been a true honor. The Vineyard’s ongoing commitment to artists and innovation, and the artistic team’s extraordinary talent in shepherding groundbreaking new work, are perennially stunning.”
At Vineyard Theatre, Appel navigated the organization financially through the Covid pandemic, keeping the entire full-time staff employed, and establishing a four-year plan (2022-2026) to raise all arts worker wages more than 30 percent. Appel partnered with consultants and the Vineyard’s artistic directors to create their first strategic development and Equity, Diversity, and Inclusion plans. Over the past seven seasons, the Vineyard’s leadership team’s accomplishments included 12 world premieres, transferring four Tony-nominated shows to Broadway (Paula Vogel’s Indecent and How I Learned to Drive, Tina Satter’s Is This A Room and Lucas Hnath’s Dana H.), and building an industry-first partnership with Audible to launch the audiobook and podcast company’s theatre program with two Vineyard Theatre plays (Harry Clarke by David Cale in 2017 and Good Grief by Ngozi Anyanwu in 2018).
Before coming to Vineyard, Appel was the director of external affairs at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and managing director of the Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco. She holds an MBA from Yale University’s School of Management and an MFA from Yale School of Drama, and she received her BA from Wesleyan University in Connecticut.
South Coast Repertory, founded in 1964, is one of the leading professional theatres in the United States. While its productions represent a balance of classic and modern plays and musicals, SCR is renowned for its extensive new-play development program, The Lab@SCR, which includes one of the nation’s largest commissioning programs for emerging, mid-career and established writers.
