Lynne Meadow is the latest New York artistic director to step down from her post. The longtime leader of Manhattan Theatre Club has announced she will step down from leading the theatre. As the theatre searches for a new artistic director, Meadow will serve as artistic advisor.
Meadow has served at MTC since 1972, when MTC was just a small Off-Off-Broadway space. Fifty-three years and more than 600 shows later, MTC now operates two Off-Broadway theatres out of New York City Center and a Broadway house, and has won 31 Tony Awards as the producer on numerous Broadway shows鈥攊ncluding at the 2025 Tony Awards for producing Eureka Day, which won Best Revival of a Play. Under her leadership, Meadow has focused on developing and presenting the works of living American and international writers.
Said Meadow in a statement: "I have loved and cherished creating my theatre, and I have dedicated myself, for over 50 years, to welcoming and working with the greatest talent in every aspect of our institution. It was my dream when I started in 1972 Off-Off-Broadway that the Manhattan Theatre Club would become a landmark in New York City. I am immensely proud of the extraordinary body of work so many gifted artists have built together, and I am looking forward to helping to continue the legacy of this great organization under the leadership of its new artistic director.鈥�
Meadow is the latest leader of a major New York theatre to announce a departure. This summer, Andr茅 Bishop is also stepping down from his longtime post as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater. Other recently departed leaders include Todd Haimes (who died in 2023) at Roundabout Theatre Company and Carole Rothman at Second Stage Theater. All of these companies operate spaces on Broadway, and with the departure of leaders that have overseen those companies for decades, it is clear there is a large generational turnover underway in New York theatre.
In an interview with the , Meadow said she wants to focus on directing and teaching in her next phase of life: 鈥淚鈥檓 doing this because I feel that the timing is right to do this鈥攖here are things that I want to do...I鈥檓 not tired, and I鈥檓 not bored, and I鈥檓 not depressed, but I鈥檓 excited for Chapter 2.鈥�
Meadow's departure follows the exit of her longtime producing partner, Barry Grove, who stepped down as executive director of MTC in 2023 after 48 years. He and Meadow first worked together at MTC's Off-Off-Broadway space at the Bohemian National Hall on East 73rd Street, which included a 150-seat proscenium theatre, a 100-seat cabaret, and rehearsal studios. In 1984, the company moved to New York City Center. In 2003, MTC ventured onto Broadway, when it opened the Biltmore Theatre, now named the Samuel J. Friedman Theatre. In addition to its 31 Tonys, MTC has received 52 Drama Desk Awards and seven Pulitzer Prizes under Meadow.
The shows that premiered under Meadow's watch include Ruined by Lynn Nottage, Jaja's African Hair Braiding by Jocelyn Bioh, Love! Valour! Compassion! by Terrence McNally, Proof by David Auburn, Doubt by John Patrick Shanley, and more. The theatre has also been an artistic home for influential playwrights such as McNally, Shanley, Beth Henley, Sam Shepard, Donald Margulies, and David Lindsay-Abaire.
In its Broadway space, MTC is currently producing Stephen Sondheim's Old Friends, which closes June 29.
A director by training, Meadow also has a Tony nomination for directing Nine Armenians in 1997. She is also the recipient of the Lee Reynolds Award from the League of Professional Theatre Women, the Manhattan Award from Manhattan magazine, the Person of the Year from National Theatre Conference, the Margo Jones Award, the 2003 Mr. Abbott Award, the 2011 Lucille Lortel Lifetime Achievement Award, the 2011 Lilly Award for Lifetime Achievement, and the Louis Auchincloss Prize. She is a Theater Hall of Fame Inductee.
Said MTC's Executive Director Chris Jennings in a statement: 鈥淚t has been an immense honor and joy to be Lynne Meadow鈥檚 partner for the last two years. As a long-time admirer of hers, getting the opportunity to work alongside this theatre icon has only exceeded my wildest dreams. I am thrilled that she will continue to support a new artistic director and me as we continue to build on Lynne and Barry Grove's remarkable legacy.鈥�
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