The Playwrights Realm has announced that Chris Berry will sign on as the company's new executive director. Berry will succeed Roberta Pereira, who left the role in 2023.
Berry most recently served as Arts Director at Penumbra Center for Racial Healing. His contributions to building a more equitable industry as an artist and administrator support the Realm's work of taking down barriers to entry to the American theatre. Berry also worked as director of education and humanities at The Billie Holiday Theatre, program director for the Black Arts Institute, and as an assistant professor in the theatre department at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte.
"Through my work in other organizations, I’ve encountered many artists with relationships to The Realm: I could always see their body language change and eyes light up when they talked about their experiences with this company," Berry said in a statement. "When I began interviewing, I was blown away to meet such a galvanized group of people committed to an organizational mission. What’s so exciting about this role is The Realm’s vocation to put real bones into its dreams, both for the industry and for artists. Especially in this moment of crisis in funding for theatre, organizations must ask themselves how to continue living in their values—how to, despite the hardship, create a more inclusive, less oppressive industry and world. I’m exhilarated by the process of audacious dreaming and the challenge of finding creative, concrete approaches to giving artists the resources they need to imagine the next chapter of the American theatre.”
The Playwrights Realm, under the leadership of Founding Artistic Director Katherine Kovner, is devoted to supporting emerging playwrights throughout their careers, helping them to hone their craft, fully realize their vision, and build meaningful artistic careers. The company recently presented the world premiere of Emma Horwitz's Mary Gets Hers, marking Playwrights Realm's first production since 2019.
Visit PlaywrightsRealm.org.
