Bond named producing artistic director for Syracuse Stage, SU Drama

Bond named producing artistic director for Syracuse Stage, SU Drama July 26, 2007SU News ServicesSUnews@syr.edu

Timothy Bond has been appointed producing artistic director of Syracuse Stage and the SU Department of Drama, effectively immediately. The announcement was made by James R. Smith, chair of Syracuse Stage’s board of trustees, and Dean Carole Brzozowski of SU’s College of Visual and Performing Arts.

Bond will be Syracuse Stage’s fourth artistic leader in its nearly 35-year history and its first producing artistic director since Arthur Storch held the position from 1974?92. As producing artistic director for both Syracuse Stage and SU Drama, Bond will oversee the nexus between the two.

“We’re restructuring the leadership team to effectively address the current and future growth of Syracuse Stage,” says Smith. “The appointment of Tim Bond is a bold first step in that direction. A separate national search will identify a managing director who will focus on the day-to-day business and operations of Syracuse Stage.”

“I am thrilled that after an exhaustive national search we found Tim Bond,” says Brzozowski. “Tim has the vision, leadership and experience to create an integrated learning and performance program for the College and the community. Furthering Chancellor Cantor’s mission of Scholarship in Action and engaging the world, Tim’s energy, enthusiasm and experience in the world of theatre will move Syracuse Stage and the Department of Drama to new heights.”

“I look forward to engaging what I know to be the generous Syracuse Stage audience and community,” says Bond. “The opportunity to lead a professional theater as well as a strong university drama program is an exciting chance to develop new work, reach new audiences and infuse the next generation of theater artists with a firm sense of purpose and professionalism. During the interview process, I sensed a strong interest in further raising the bar artistically and assuring that the SU drama program has a significant impact in the country through its training efforts. I believe in the power of theater to be a transformative force in our society. It brings people from diverse backgrounds together under one roof to be engaged in democratic dialogue about important societal and interpersonal concerns in theatrical and entertaining ways.”

“Among my priorities,” Bond says, “is to begin the collaborative process of selecting the 2008?09 season, my first Syracuse Stage season, which will be a mix of classical plays, contemporary plays, new plays and plays with music. I will expand Syracuse Stage’s reach and impact on younger audiences and on culturally diverse communities. Our overall national reputation will be greatly enhanced through our collaboration and engagement with innovative artists and others from leading American and global theater centers. Over the next five years, I envision Syracuse Stage as an important home for the development of new work by established and emerging playwrights.”

For the past 11 years, Bond has served as associate artistic director at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival (OSF) in Ashland, Ore. Previously, he served as artistic director of the Seattle Group Theatre, artistic director of the Paul Robeson Theatre, also in Seattle, and director of Seattle’s nationally recognized MultiCultural Playwrights’ Festival. Bond is a member of the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers and a board member of ASSITEJ/U.S.A., the United States Center for the International Association of Theatre for Children and Young People, a national service organization promoting the power of professional theater for young audiences. He formerly served as a member of the board of trustees for the Theatre Communications Group (TCG) and as a site reporter for the National Endowment for the Arts (NEA).

He has been twice the recipient of Backstage West’s Garland Award for Outstanding Direction. As a TCG/NEA Directing Fellow (1991), he worked on productions with Peter Sellars, George C. Wolfe and Ping Chong.

A focus of Bond’s previous artistic leadership has been to promote the work of culturally diverse playwrights, actors and designers. During his tenure at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival, Bond led initiatives to widen the artistic and social impact of the works of Shakespeare and other classical plays through multicultural casting, diversifying the company’s repertoire and championing diversity in hiring theatre artisans. “As a person of African American, Native American, German and Irish ancestry,” Bond says, “I know that the richer the tapestry, the richer the view. When artistically appropriate, Syracuse Stage productions will reflect the diversity of the community we serve.”

As guest faculty, Bond has taught directing at the University of Washington and as the Lorraine Hansberry Visiting Professor at the University of Wisconsin, Madison. He taught master classes and served as an adjudicator for the first and third annual Chinese Universities Shakespeare Festivals in Hong Kong.

Bond holds a B.F.A. in dramatic art from Howard University, where he received the Owen Dodson Acting Award, and an M.F.A. in directing from the University of Washington (magna cum laude).

Bond assumes the positions of producing director, held by James A. Clark, and artistic director, held by Robert Moss, who announced in June 2006 their joint decision to step down. Clark joined Syracuse Stage in 1976 as managing director and a faculty member in the Department of Drama. In 1992, Clark was appointed producing director of Syracuse Stage and chair of the department. Clark will remain to serve as managing director of Syracuse Stage until a separate search identifies a candidate to replace him.

In 1996, Moss, former artistic director of The Hangar Theatre in Ithaca and founder of Playwrights Horizons in New York City, was appointed Syracuse Stage’s third artistic director. In his 11 seasons at Syracuse Stage, Moss has directed “The Real Thing,” “Lost in Yonkers,” “My Fair Lady,” “Visiting Mr. Green,” “Crimes of the Heart,” “Big River,” “The Wizard of Oz,” “Hamlet,” “M. Butterfly,” the world premiere of “Backsliding in the Promised Land,” “Brighton Beach Memoirs,” “Romeo and Juliet,” “Born Yesterday,” “Inherit the Wind,” “You Never Can Tell,” “A Few Good Men” and “Angels in America,” among others, as well as this past season’s “Driving Miss Daisy,” “Spike Heels” and “The Unexpected Guest.”

Moss is slated to guest direct “Les Liaisons Dangereuses” and “The Lieutenant of Inishmore” in Syracuse Stage’s upcoming 35th anniversary season, which he selected.