Long Wharf Theater Names New Leadership Team and Board Members for 60th Anniversary Season Opening

Long Wharf Theater has named Briona Jenkins as its new director of development and Eric Gershman as interim managing director. They began their duties on October 7. Long Wharf Theater also appointed six new members to its board of directors – Liana Garcia, Ruby Melton, Frances Padilla, Michael Twitty, Brendan Wu and Nancy Yao. New additions to the institution’s leadership and board will strengthen its success as it approaches its historic 60th anniversary.

Jenkins, who has extensive experience in community activism and nonprofit development, steps into the development role at a pivotal time for the institution. As Long Wharf Theater strengthens its new production model, Jenkins will play an integral role in collaborating with the leadership and external affairs team to strengthen the organization’s community connections and funding streams for sustainable growth and creative rigor. Jenkins was selected as Chief Development Officer after an extensive ecosystem building and hiring process supported by Creative Evolutions.

Gershman will work with Artistic Director Jacob G. Padrón on strategic initiatives and short- and long-term goals that will position the company for sustainable growth and continued creative excellence. Gershman will work to strengthen Long Wharf Theatre’s new producing model as it activates venues, neighborhoods and public spaces throughout the city and region to make world-class theater accessible to all.

“I am thrilled to welcome Briona Jenkins and Eric Gershman, who have joined the company at an important time of growth and opportunity,” said Jacob G. Padron, artistic director of Long Wharf Theatre. “Briona brings the strategic experience needed to continue our work for the next 60 seasons, as well as curiosity, drive and passion for the strength and promise of Long Wharf Theatre. I am thrilled to be collaborating with Briona and Eric as Long Wharf Theater continues to operate as a theater company owned by the residents of Greater New Haven. I am confident that they will bring transformational work to the organization.”

Originally from Hamden, Connecticut and most recently based in Austin, Texas, Jenkins has over a decade of experience in the nonprofit sector, having previously served a number of organizations in Austin as well as running his own nonprofit consulting business. The award-winning leader has served on the boards of seven non-profit organizations: Keep Austin Fed, Austin Black Pride, Lone Star Victims Project, Austin Council Emerging Leaders Council, The Equality Alliance and Equality Texas, and currently serves on the board of directors of Random Acts. She has spoken at the 2020 Women’s March in Austin, two annual Future Front Texas “State of the Uterus” events, Texas State University Business Week, a virtual SXSWEdu panel, two GISH panels on racial equity and justice, and was a panelist at SXSW 2022 Wellness. Participant in the discussion. A dedicated and outspoken activist and podcast host, Jenkins brings the lived experiences of LGBTQIA+, BIPOC women into spaces to promote radical change and inclusivity in all of her work, and now at the Long Wharf Theatre.

“I am honored to join the Long Wharf Theater team and bring my experience not only to my home state of Connecticut, but to an organization that deeply values ​​the community around it and works every day to provide them with an accessible arts experience,” Briona said. Jenkins, director of development. “Like the talented team at Long Wharf Theatre, I am committed to radical inclusivity and have the unique expertise to position the theater for many years to come in transformative creativity, storytelling and audience engagement.”

Gershman joins the Long Wharf Theater after a year-long stint as interim managing director of the Williamstown Theater Festival, where he helped develop and implement a more sustainable business model and organizational structure for the 70-year-old institution. He has extensive business strategy and development experience in the arts, culture and media industries, including supporting strategy exercises for the Brown Institute of the Arts, Newport Classical, Showtown Theatricals and Netflix. As a member of the AEA Consulting team, he supported additional planning efforts for the Museum of Modern Art, the National Black Theater, the Newport County Preservation Society, the Brooklyn Academy of Music, the Rhode Island School of Design, and ProPublica. Prior to his consulting work, Eric held strategic positions at the Disney Theater Group and the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and earlier in his career held technical production positions at the Blue Man Group, Annie’s Broadway Tour, and Cirque du Soleil. He is an adjunct faculty member at Brown University and the University of Rhode Island, holds an MFA in Theater Management from the David Geffen School of Drama at Yale University, an MBA from the Yale School of Management, and a BFA in Theater Design and Technology from Emerson College. .

“I am honored to support Long Wharf Theater as it transitions leadership and prepares for a new season of incredible innovation, community engagement and meaningful storytelling,” said Eric Gershman, interim managing director. “I’m thrilled to be returning to New Haven and collaborating with Jacob and the entire team as they continue to redefine what it means to be a regional arts institution and how that can manifest itself in the many dimensions of our community.”

Liana Garcia, Ruby Melton, Frances Padilla, Michael Twitty, Brendan Wu and Nancy Yao are veterans in their fields who bring their collective decades of experience and expertise to the Long Wharf Theater Board of Directors.

“We are pleased to welcome six outstanding new individuals to the Long Wharf Theater Board of Directors,” said Nancy Alexander, Board Chair. “Liana Garcia, Ruby Melton, Frances Padilla, Michael Twitty, Brendan Wu and Nancy Yao each bring unique experience and leadership qualities. it will help us navigate this important moment in our history. They all fully believe in the company’s vision.”

The 60th Anniversary Season of Building Our Future Together is Long Wharf Theatre’s second season of its innovative production model of presenting works throughout Greater New Haven to make world-class theater accessible to everyone. Following the Arts Convention and the fifth annual Black Trans Women at the Center Festival, the Long Wharf Theater will transform the Lab at ConnCorp, a center for training and business innovation, to host an updated production of the Golden Age musical She Loves Me, directed by Jacob J. Padron, with musical directed by Miles Plant.

To learn more about productions and how to get involved, visit https://longwharf.org/.

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