Leadership Transition Announcement
I am writing this blog post to let you know about an exciting development in my life, and to ask for your help.
On June 30th, I will move out of my current administrative role of Artistic Director to allow me to more fully pursue my life’s work, which is acting and directing.
I feel confident taking this step forward in my career because 4th Wall has never been in better shape. We’ve just completed a record-smashing season, and I am delighted to share that two of the people responsible for its success will carry the company forward. In a unanimous hiring decision by our Board, longtime artistic collaborator and current Managing Director Jennifer Dean will shift to the role of Artistic Director, and current Development Manager Catherine Dunaway will be promoted to Managing Director.
Philip Lehl (Co-Founder and Current Artistic Director, Incoming Artist in Residence) and Catherine Dunaway (Current Development Manager, Incoming Managing Director)
photo by Paul Carrizales
Kim Tobin-Lehl (Co-Founder and Artist in Residence) and Jennifer Dean (Current Managing Director, Incoming Artistic Director)
photo by Paul Carrizales
I wanted you to hear about this leadership transition from me because I want you to know that I couldn’t be more excited for the future of 4th Wall under their leadership. As we launch our 14th season, I am counting on you to continue to support the theatre and to support Jennifer, Catherine, and me in these new roles.
To be clear, I’m not walking away from 4th Wall. I plan to see you at the theatre again soon where I’ll be joining my wife and Co-Founder Kim as an artist in residence. Our continued artistic involvement beyond our administrative tenure is actually the embodiment of our greatest dream for 4th Wall, which was to build a company that would uplift professional theatre artists through fair pay.
In fact, if there is anything that I can leave you with in my last letter as Artistic Director, it is this: I cannot overemphasize the importance of fair pay for artists. When the 4th Wall Box Office was just my cell phone, we were still paying artists. When we became the smallest and youngest theatre in Houston to join the Actors Equity Association, we were paying artists even beyond union-mandated minimums. And when a global pandemic interrupted opening weekend of Between Riverside and Crazy, we paid out the artists’ contracts in full anyway, and we hired back the original cast again two years later. When you experience artistic excellence in our theatre, it is precisely because we prioritize paying professional artists. I am most heartened by this leadership transition because I know Jennifer and Catherine will fight fiercely for artist pay as Kim and I have.
From the bottom of my heart, thank you for your belief in the work of 4th Wall. It has been the thrill of my life to witness community support spring up around this dream that Kim and I share, and I am asking you now to help carry it forward.
With gratitude,
Philip Lehl
Founding Artistic Director, soon to be Artist in Residence
Next onstage in Vanya and Sonia and Masha and Spike, November 2024
Co-Founders and Artists in Residence, Philip Lehl and Kim Tobin-Lehl, as Torvald and Nora in A Doll’s House, Part 2
photo by Gabriella Nissen
