The Lewis Center for the Arts will present “Is it Better on Broadway? A Conversation about Art and Commerce in American Theatre,” a discussion with Dessie Moynihan, Vice President for Creative Projects at The Shubert Organization, moderated by Professor Jill Dolan. The talk will cover Moynihan’s experience and insight gained from a long career working within top New York production companies developing new works for mass audiences. There will also be an opportunity for questions from the audience. The conversation will take place on Tuesday, April 29, at 4:30 p.m. in the Katzenbach Room (room 207), on the second floor of 185 Nassau Street. This event is free and open to the public.
Dessie Moynihan began her theater career in New York in the public relations/marketing department of Circle Repertory Company. For six years she worked at off-off-Broadway’s Ensemble Studio Theatre, first as marketing associate then as literary manager. In the latter capacity she worked with writers on the creation and development of new plays through readings, workshops and productions..
In 1988 she joined the Shubert Foundation to assist its grant-giving programs for theatre and dance companies. In 1996 she moved over to The Shubert Organization to establish a department devoted to looking for material for the Organization to produce, co-produce, invest in and book into its 18 New York theatres. In 2006 she was named Vice President for Creative Projects. Productions that she has been involved with include Dirty Blonde by Claudia Shear, directed by James Lapine; Strindberg’s Dance of Death directed by Sean Mathias, starring Ian McKellen and Helen Mirren; Arthur Miller’s The Ride Down Mount Morgan with Patrick Stewart; Michel Legrand’s musical Amour; and Stew and Heidi Rodewald’s musical Passing Strange.
She is currently working closely with noted political columnist Michael Kramer on Divine Rivalry, a play inspired by a 1504 painting competition between Michelangelo and Leonardo da Vinci administered by the Chancellor of Florence, Niccolo Machiavelli.
Moynihan has a M.A. in Drama and Dance and a Ph.D. in Performance Studies, both from New York University. She taught theatre at Sarah Lawrence College for five years. She is the former assistant editor of The Drama Review and has written articles, essays and criticism for several publications.
Dolan is the Annan Professor in English, Professor of Theater in the Lewis Center for the Arts, and Director of the Program in Gender and Sexuality Studies at Princeton. She received the 2011 Outstanding Teaching Award from the Association for Theatre in Higher Education and the 2011 George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for her blog, which can be accessed at TheFeministSpectator.com.
