Rebecca Ende Lichtenberg will take over as the Shakespeare Theatre Company’s next executive director starting Feb. 19, 2024, according to an announcement from STC’s Board of Directors Chair Anita Antenucci. Ende Lichtenberg replaces Chris Jennings, who ended a 19-year tenure with STC in July to head the Manhattan Theatre Club. Susie Medak, a 32-year veteran of the Bay Area’s Berkeley Repertory, has acted as interim executive director since Jennings’ departure.
Ende Lichtenberg joins STC’s artistic director Simon Godwin to lead the theater’s efforts to grow its artistic influence across the country and internationally, according to a press release from the theater. A fixture in local arts, Ende Lichtenberg previously served as Studio Theatre’s executive director after joining the D.C. company as managing director in 2018. She led financial management, fundraising, marketing, and staff management, and oversaw Studio’s $20 million capital campaign and renovation.
During her time at the 14th Street NW theater, Ende Lichtenberg helped lead Studio through the worst of the challenges associated with the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as a nationwide reckoning with equal pay and a fight for greater equality onstage and backstage. Today, STC is one of the few U.S. theaters that has regained its pre-pandemic level of subscription-based audience members, but the art form and stages across the country continue to evolve.
“I look forward to working with [Ende Lichtenberg] on the myriad challenges and opportunities the American theatre will present in the coming years,” Godwin says in the press release.
Antenucci adds: “Rebecca brings a wealth of experience to her new role at STC …. [she] stood out for her strong theatre acumen and the quality of her work with D.C. theatres that Washingtonians greatly admire.”
Prior to her time at Studio, Ende Lichtenberg served as a managing director at D.C.’s Theater J, the country’s largest Jewish theater company. She’s also worked at the local arts nonprofit Sitar Arts Center in Adams Morgan.
“I feel so fortunate to have been able to build a career in theatre leadership while staying in the D.C. community, which is one of the most vibrant in the country,” Ende Lichtenberg says in the press release. “In a short time, Simon has shown himself to be a world-class artist and a visionary artistic leader. I look forward to partnering with him and working with the passionate staff and dedicated Board to redefine what it means to be a classic theatre company.”