WELLFLEET HARBOR ACTORS THEATER (WHAT)
Wellfleet, Massachusetts
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: John Dubinsky, President
Telephone: 508-349-9428 x105
E-mail: dubinsky.john@gmail.com
Jeff Zinn to Step Down as WHAT Artistic Director
Wellfleet, MA - After a successful tenure at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater (WHAT), Jeff Zinn has advised the Board that he will be leaving his post as Artistic Director at the end of this summer season. A national search for his replacement will be undertaken soon.
“We understand that Jeff has chosen this time, after bringing Wellfleet and the Cape many wonderful years of provocative and critically acclaimed theater, to move on to other opportunities,” said WHAT President John Dubinsky. “We are totally committed to our main mission of producing cutting edge theatre but will also be supplementing that with some diversified off-season presentations.”
“There’s quite a bit left for me to accomplish as a director, teacher, writer and actor,” said Zinn. “I’m also looking forward to next year when I might actually enjoy a summer vacation with my family.”
Founded in 1985 by Gip Hoppe, Dick Morrill, Kevin Rice, Victoria Shephard, Laurie Swift and Dan Walker, Jeff Zinn has, for many years, been the driving force behind the three venue WHAT company; the original, iconic Harbor Stage, the WHAT for Kids Tent (in collaboration with writer/director, Stephen Russell) and the state of the art, 220-seat Julie Harris Stage, named for WHAT’s Honorary Chair and the legendary actress, which opened in 2007.
Under his leadership WHAT has grown to be a nationally recognized professional theater, presenting innovative new American plays for an appreciative regional audience. He has produced and/or directed more than 150 WHAT productions. WHAT has been awarded two prestigious Eliot Norton Awards including one in 2001 for “Establishing a Beachhead for Serious Theatre on Cape Cod.” In 2004 Boston Magazine chose WHAT as “Best Theater” in its annual “Best of Boston” issue. Productions he has directed, Beauty Queen of Leenane(starring Julie Harris), Closer by Patrick Marber, and Proof by David Auburn were named, in their respective years, as part of the top ten theater productions by the Boston Globe. This season, his productions of A Behanding In Spokane by Martin McDonagh and the world premiere of Bakersfield Mist, by Stephen Sachs, received critical acclaim. (Bakersfield Mist will transfer to the New Repertory Theatre in Watertown in February 2012.)
WHAT’s former chair, Carol Green, responding to Jeff’s announcement said, “The building of the new theater, the strong support from the Cape-wide community and beyond, over these many years, has been the highlight of my life. I have been privileged to work with Jeff through these years, and wish him great successes in his future."
