Trinity Repertory Company announced the appointment of Curt Columbus as its new artistic director Sunday.
Columbus comes to Providence from Chicago, where he works as associate artistic director of Steppenwolf Theatre and artistic director of the city's summer Theater on the Lake. He also teaches at the University of Chicago and DePaul University. Columbus has a background in translating and adapting Russian literary works such as Dostoevsky's "Crime and Punishment" and the plays of Chekhov.
As artistic director, Columbus will also serve as chair of the Brown/Trinity Consortium, a graduate program in acting and directing formed in May 2001. His appointment marks the end of a search that began when former artistic director Oskar Eustis left Trinity in January after 10 years of service to become artistic director of the Public Theater in New York.
Trinity trustee Jack McConnell '80, who chaired the search committee, called Columbus "an artistic visionary." He said he was the "unanimous and overwhelming" first choice of the committee because he "understands how art relates to the community."
"He believes that theater needs to be populist," McConnell said. It is this characteristic, he explained, which makes Columbus a good match for Trinity, which has always tried to play an active role in the Providence community.
According to Spencer Golub, director of academic graduate studies at the Brown/Trinity Consortium and chair of the department of theater, speech and dance, Columbus' varied experience as a director, translator, writer, dramaturge and teacher make him well suited for the dual role of artistic director of Trinity and chair of the Brown/Trinity Consortium.
"He interacts well with different kinds of constituencies ... He speaks many different languages and speaks them well," Golub said.
Columbus will begin work at Trinity in January 2006, choosing the plays for Trinity's upcoming season and overseeing all artistic aspects of the company. Amanda Dehnert, the company's interim artistic director, will remain until Columbus' arrival.
