Lindsay Allbaugh Named Associate Artistic Director and Neel Keller Named Artistic Director/Literary Director of Center Theatre Group

LINDSAY ALLBAUGH NAMED ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR AND NEEL KELLER NAMED ASSOCIATE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR/LITERARY DIRECTOR OF CENTER THEATRE GROUP

Lindsay Allbaugh has been named Associate Artistic Director and Neel Keller has been named Associate Artistic Director/Literary Director of Center Theatre Group, announced Artistic Director Michael Ritchie. Both Allbaugh and Keller will continue working closely with Ritchie and Associate Artistic Director Kelley Kirkpatrick to oversee all artistic responsibilities of the nonprofit theatre company, including productions across the Ahmanson Theatre and Mark Taper Forum in Los Angeles and Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City.

“Center Theatre Group’s staff has included some of the best artistic collaborators in the country, and that remains as true today as it has since our founding in 1967,” said Ritchie. “We’re producing, presenting and often creating pieces of theatre for one of the widest and most diverse audiences, and throughout my time leading this organization, both Lindsay and Neel have been instrumental in helping Center Theatre Group continue guiding our artistic mission. Their new titles are well deserved and consistent with the work they’ve already been doing as well as the expectations going forward.”

Allbaugh joined Center Theatre Group in 2004 as Assistant to the Managing Director, later working in various capacities throughout the Artistic Department including most recently as Associate Producer. At Center Theatre Group, she produces the annual Block Party program featuring Los Angeles-based theatre companies, which she helped launch in 2016, and mainstage productions including “Indecent,” “Bent,” “The Nether,” “Women Laughing Alone With Salad,” “Good Grief,” “Archduke” and multiple Samuel Beckett plays including “Waiting for Godot, “Endgame” and “Happy Days.” Along with her work over the past 15 years with Center Theatre Group, Allbaugh spent 10 years as Co-Artistic Director of the Elephant Theatre Company in Hollywood and has directed plays and readings at various Los Angeles-based theatre companies including Boston Court, The Echo Theater Company and IAMA Theatre Company.

“I’m incredibly honored to shift into the position of Associate Artistic Director. My time at Center Theatre Group has been rich with opportunity, and that’s a testament to the support and encouragement I’ve received from Michael Ritchie, Neel Keller, Kelley Kirkpatrick and the rest of our staff,” said Allbaugh. “I’m excited to build upon our ongoing artistic initiatives and to continue fostering relationships with artists on a local, national and international level. I have always been incredibly passionate about new work and the vast array of talent the Los Angeles theatre community has to offer. The creation of our Block Party program has been, and continues to be, an incredibly fulfilling endeavor and is one that has strengthened Center Theatre Group and this city’s vibrant local theatre ecosystem. I look forward to continuing the great work we’ve been doing with Block Party and other like-minded initiatives as well our work with some of the leading artists of our time.”

Keller joined Center Theatre Group as Associate Producer in 2003, following his previous relationship with the organization as a freelance director. He was named Associate Artistic Director in 2011. Keller will now assume additional duties as Literary Director, including leading the ongoing development of new works and the L.A. Writers’ Workshop program, which launched in 2005 and provides an annual residency for seven local playwrights to research and write new works. Keller has directed many productions for Center Theatre Group, including the recent world premieres of “Quack,” “Forever,” “different words for the same thing” and “The Nether.” Prior to joining Center Theatre Group, he worked with Williamstown Theatre Festival, Lincoln Center Theater, the American National Theatre and La Jolla Playhouse, where he was Associate Artistic Director from 1997 to 2000.

“Center Theatre Group was one of the first companies to make wholesale commitments to developing new works and I’m proud to have played a part in that ongoing vision since first joining the staff alongside Gordon Davidson and now Michael Ritchie,” said Keller. “Having playwrights in our buildings is critical to the life and reach of our wonderful theatres. I’m excited by the opportunity to find ways for playwrights to be even more present within the rehearsal rooms, halls and offices of this important institution. Being involved with the nurturing of writers and the creation of new works is a dream job.”

Center Theatre Group, one of the nation’s preeminent arts and cultural organizations, is Los Angeles’ leading nonprofit theatre company, which, under the leadership of Artistic Director Michael Ritchie, Managing Director Meghan Pressman and Producing Director Douglas C. Baker, programs seasons at the 736-seat Mark Taper Forum and 1600 to 2100-seat Ahmanson Theatre at The Music Center in Downtown Los Angeles, and the 317-seat Kirk Douglas Theatre in Culver City. In addition to presenting and producing the broadest range of theatrical entertainment in the country, Center Theatre Group is one of the nation’s leading producers of ambitious new works through commissions and world premiere productions and a leader in interactive community engagement and education programs that reach across generations, demographics and circumstance to serve Los Angeles.

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August 29, 2019