Laura Penn

Laura Penn is in her 12th season as managing director of Intiman Theatre in Seattle, Washington. During her tenure, INTIMAN has produced such world premieres as Singing Forest by Craig Lucas; Craig Lucas and Adam Guettel’s The Light in the Piazza, a new musical based on the novel by Elizabeth Spencer; and Joan Holden’s Nickel and Dimed, a commissioned adaptation of the non-fiction bestseller by Barbara Ehrenreich. She is the driving force behind numerous educational programs and community collaborations at INTIMAN, including Angels in Seattle, inspired by Angels in America; Youth and Business Leaders Day, held in conjunction with Twilight: Los Angeles, 1992; Community Committees for such plays as Nickel and Dimed, Homebody/Kabul and Black Nativity; and public programs around The American Cycle, a five-year series of classic American stories and civic engagement.

She has served as a vice president of the League of Resident Theatres, held a two-term appointment as chair of the Seattle Arts Commission, and was a steering committee member of the Seattle Chamber of Commerce’s Forum on Race. She serves as a site evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts and has served on panels for Theatre Communications Group and other organizations. She has also worked locally with Explore Life and participated in the Institute on the Arts & Civic Dialogue, founded by Anna Deavere Smith at Harvard University. Prior to coming to INTIMAN, she was associate managing director at Seattle Repertory Theatre and was associated with Arena Stage, where she worked with Bob Alexander and the Living Stage Theatre Company. She currently serves on advisory committees for Arts Corps and Freehold Studio/Theatre Lab and on the Board of Leadership Tomorrow.

INTIMAN Theatre, founded in 1972 and now under the leadership of Artistic Director Bartlett Sher and Managing Director Laura Penn, produces classics and contemporary plays, and today is on the forefront of developing some of the country's most ambitious new work. INTIMAN believes in the social value of art through the telling of great stories of substance and scale, and makes theatre of the highest quality and content that is rooted in civic engagement, cultural inclusiveness and community participation. INTIMAN is nationally recognized for its innovative, multi-generational education programs, and serves young people and students through Living History, an arts-in-education program now in its 20th season, that helps develop critical thought and stimulate the imagination. Current projects include The American Cycle, a five-year series of classic American stories, collaborative partnerships and public programs. www.intiman.org.

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