NewDramatists Staff

Todd London (Artistic Director) This summer Todd became the first recipient of Theatre Communications Group’s (TCG) Visionary Leadership Award, for “an individual who has gone above and beyond the call of duty to advance the theatre field as a whole, nationally and/or internationally.” Todd is beginning his fourteenth season as artistic director of New Dramatists, where he has worked closely with more than a hundred of America’s leading playwrights and advocated nationally and internationally for hundreds more. A former Managing Editor of American Theatre magazine and the author of The Artistic Home, published by the Theatre Communications Group (TCG), he has written, edited, and/or contributed to eleven books. This fall will see the completion and publication of Theatre Development Fund’s (TDF) New Plays and Playwrights Project, a four-year study of new play production in America, for which Todd has served as project director and senior writer.  His particular brand of advocacy journalism has focused on both the lives and livelihoods of individual artists and on the not-for-profit theatre movement, especially the impact of institutionalization on the field. His magazine essays and articles on the theatre have been translated for publication in Russia, North and South Africa, Scandinavia, Serbia, and Romania. Todd won the prestigious George Jean Nathan Award for Dramatic Criticism for his essays in American Theatre and a Milestone Award for his first novel, The World’s Room, published by Steerforth Press.  In 2001 he accepted a special Tony® Honor on behalf of New Dramatists, and in 2005 he represented New Dramatists at the Obie Awards, where the organization was honored with the Ross Wetzsteon Award for excellence. Todd has taught at Harvard and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and currently serves on the faculty of Yale School of Drama. He’s a past Literary Director of the American Repertory Theatre at Harvard and Associate Artistic Director of CSC Rep off Broadway. Todd just finished a six-year term on the board of Theatre Communications Group (TCG). He currently sits on the boards of The John Golden Fund, and The Talking Band. He has two sons, Guthrie and Grisha, and lives in Brooklyn with playwright Karen Hartman.

Joel K. Ruark (Executive Director) led the staff of New Dramatists from 1989 through 1992.  He returned as Executive Director in 2000.  Ruark served as Managing Director of the theatre division of Wind Dancer Production Group. He also helped to establish and served as the Chief Financial Officer for Praxis Housing Initiatives, a nonprofit housing development agency serving the homeless and people with AIDS.  Ruark previously held positions as Development Director of the George Street Playhouse in New Brunswick, NJ, General Manager of the Lambs Theatre in New York City and Literary Manager of the Walnut Street Theatre in Philadelphia.  He has worked in a variety of positions at professional companies including the New Jersey Shakespeare Festival, the Philadelphia Theatre Company, the Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Philadelphia Festival Theatre.  A graduate of Ohio University, Joel began his theatrical career as a literary management intern at Actors Theatre of Louisville.

Jennie Greer (Director of Advancement) returned to New Dramatists in 2007, and she oversees development and institutional communications. She previously served as Director of Development for three and a half years. In the interim, Jennie worked at Signature Theatre Company as the Director of Theatre Advancement. In that position, she oversaw development and marketing strategies, as well as the implementation of a new branding and communications campaign. She has also served as the Executive Director for The New Harmony Project, an Indiana-based organization dedicated to developing new works for theatre, film, and television. In addition to her work at New Dramatists, Jennie is the development consultant for Soho Rep, a board member for Ripe Time, a member of New Georges’ Kitchen Cabinet, on the advisory board of America-in-Play, and on the Brooklyn College Alumni Committee. She is a proud graduate of the University of Evansville Department of Theatre and the MFA Performing Arts Management program at Brooklyn College, where she teaches a graduate fundraising class.  She is married to Simon Kendall and they live in Brooklyn.

Emily Morse (Director of Artistic Development) is a multi-faceted theatre artist entering her ninth year at New Dramatists. She has served as dramaturg on workshops and productions at The Philadelphia Theatre Company, Actors Theatre of Louisville, New York Theatre Workshop, the Wilma, Clubbed Thumb, New Georges, the JAW/West Festival, Ripe Time, Cincinnati Playhouse, The Culture Project/Women Center Stage, PlayPenn and 13P.  Her directing work and 10-minute plays have been seen in a variety of venues in New York City and regionally. She has also held administrative positions with Ping Chong and Company, Lema Productions, Creative Time, and LMDA. Workshops in which she’s participated include Choreography for Directors with Annie-B Parson, Butoh with Dawn Akemi Saito, Viewpoints with J. Ed Araiza, Critical Response, and Movement and Stage Composition, respectively, with Liz Lerman, and playwriting with Eduardo Machado, Suzan-Lori Parks, and Karen Hartman. She's studied various forms of dance including Swing, Argentine Tango, and Flamenco. She was the dramaturg/co-adaptor of Innocents, Ripe Time’s iteration of The House of Mirth, produced at the Ohio in 2005, and more recently, she worked with Carol Gilligan on an adaptation of The Scarlet Letter. She has been a guest at the Baldwin Festival of New Work at UCSD, the Sewanee Writers’ Conference, and the New Works Festival at UT-Austin. She is an artistic advisor for New Georges, LCT’s Directors Lab alumna, NYTW Usual Suspect, LMDA member, and a Board Member of The Talking Band.

Ron Riley (Director of Operations) has worked in administrative and IT capacities for EST, Playwrights Horizons and Borough of Manhattan Community College.   A professional actor & musician, Ron is a member of Café Antarsia Ensemble with Ruth Margraff, Nikos Brisco and Rami el Aassar.  The group released their debut CD Songs of the Table on Innova Records in 2007 and has toured internationally.  Ron has also appeared in New Dramatists alum productions including Carlyle Brown’s play Pure Confidence at the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park and at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival; The New York Fringe Festival's production of Portrait of a President by Herman Daniel Farrell III; Keli Garrett's Uppa Creek, directed by Dominic Taylor at Dixon Place; Keith Glover's Dark Paradise at Cincinnati Playhouse; the Obie Award-winning Off Broadway revival production of Joe Turner's Come and Gone by August Wilson at the New Federal Theatre; They Still Mambo In Havana at The Flea and Partial Complex Seizure, written and directed by Rogelio Martinez at the Playwrights' Collective; Christopher Columbus by Nikos Kazantdakis, directed by Lloyd Richards at the New Federal Theatre; Crocodile Eyes written and directed by Eduardo Machado at Theatre for the New City; and Soho Rep’s production of Skin by Naomi Iizuka.  A veteran of "many dusty, downtown productions,” he is a 1991 graduate of NYU's Tisch School of the Arts, where he received a B.F.A. with Honors and a 1991 Founders Award.

John Steber (Director of the Playwrights’ Lab) is in his sixth season at New Dramatists where he has overseen the presentation and casting of over 400 readings and workshops.  In New York, he has directed at HERE, The Working Theatre, HB Playwrights Foundation, EST, New Perspectives, The West Bank, Alice’s Fourth Floor, The Present Company, and Metro Playhouse, among others.  He has directed staged readings for Playwrights’ Horizons and New York Theatre Workshop, and was a member of the 1996 and 1999 Lincoln Center Theatre Director’s Lab.  Additionally, he has directed for The Passage Theatre, The Garage Theatre Group, and 12 Miles West in his home state of New Jersey.  He also directed Arthur Miller’s After the Fall for the Daylesford Theatre at BMDS, Bermuda.  From 1995 - 2001 John served as a director/dramaturg for the Shenandoah International Playwrights Retreat in Staunton, VA.  John began his career as an actor, appearing Off Broadway at INTAR, Westside Arts, EST, and internationally at the Theatre Des Westens, Berlin (Porgy and Bess), as well as in TV shows and commercials. 

Morgan Allen (General Manager) is in his fourth season on the staff of New Dramatists where he oversees and manages bookkeeping and accounting and is responsible for coordination of the annual Spring Luncheon, among other duties.  Prior to New Dramatists, Morgan was on the staff of Playbill.com where he edited photos and wrote several feature articles on theater.  As a theatrical producer, he most recently worked on the world premiere of ND alum Catherine Filloux's Killing the Boss (Cherry Lane Theatre) and the US premiere of her play Lemkin’s House with Body Politic Theater, of which he is a co-founder.  As a playwright, he is the co-author with Mitch Montgomery of Triumph of the Underdog, which was produced during the 2008 New York International Fringe Festival.  His short play Leap was featured as part of Prospect Theater Company's Dark Nights Series in April 2006.  Judas Pigeon received a reading at Manhattan Ensemble Theater (dir. Jean Randich).  He directed a workshop production of his play Precious Stone while at the Savannah College of Art & Design.  He has worked in New York City with La MaMa e.t.c., New Georges, National Asian American Theatre Company and Theater Without Borders, among others.  Morgan proudly served as intern for New Dramatists during the summer of 2002.  He lives in New York City with his wife Heather, a financial associate at Frankel Green Theatrical Management, and one-year old daughter Avery.  Morgan holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from the Savannah College of Art and Design.

Cara Scarmack (Development Associate) is proud to be entering her third season at New Dramatists.  Previously, she was the Assistant Manager of the Annual Fund at Signature Theatre Company where she focused on Individual Giving and Special Events.  She has also worked with the Will Geer Theatricum Botanicum in Los Angeles.  In addition to her work at New Dramatists, Cara is a director and her work has been seen in various festivals in New York City.  Her new work Better Not Touch That, which she wrote and will direct, will premiere in Gowanus, Brooklyn this year.  She is the co-founder with Sarah Michelson of The Pool, a theater workshop for actors and directors.  Together with mandolin player Kate Prascher, she is a member of the duo The Kacey Sisters and plays bluegrass guitar in music venues around town. She is a graduate of Denison University and also studied at The Lee Strasberg Theatre and Film Institute in New York.  Cara had the privilege to attend the LaMaMa International Symposium for Directors in Umbria, Italy and Odin Week 2009 at the Odin Teatret in Holstebro, Denmark.

Erin Detrick (Artistic Programs Administrator) is entering her second full season at New Dramatists and first had the pleasure of working with the organization as an intern in 2003. Previously, she was the Publications Director for Playscripts, Inc., where she managed the submissions and editorial processes, and, with Keen Company, helmed the first two seasons of Keen Teens, a program in which professional playwrights develop and write one-act plays for production with area high school students in a professional Off-Broadway setting. With Playscripts, she co-edited Funny, Strange, Provocative: Seven Plays from Clubbed Thumb and three monologue collections. Her adaptation of THE WIZARD OF OZ is published by Playscripts. As a dramaturg, Erin’s freelance credits include work with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Cleveland Public Theatre, the 24Seven Lab, Puerto Rican Traveling Theatre, and a variety of workshop productions. She also dramaturged a wide range of projects during literary internships at Actors Theatre of Louisville and the Williamstown Theatre Festival. She is a graduate of Otterbein College.

Connie Hall (Grants Administrator) joined the staff of New Dramatists in July of 2009.  Her last position was as a development associate at Theatre Communications Group, where she spent four years raising money for the national not-for-profit theatre sector.  As an independent performer and producer, Connie has helped to create and mount numerous new plays in New York and abroad.  She is currently the producing director of Conni’s Avant Garde Restaurant, and she has been a contributing writer-performer with several ensemble-based theater companies, including Knife, Inc., Saga Theatre, SaBooge, and International WOW Company.  She holds an MFA from Columbia University.