Evan Cabnet Named New Artistic Director of Second Stage Theater
(© David Gordon)
Evan Cabnet will succeed Carole Rothman as artistic director of Second Stage Theater. Rothman will step down in August. Cabnet will join the organization in September 2024 and will officially launch his first season of programming in Fall 2025. Interim Artistic Director Bennett Leak will oversee the upcoming 2024-25 season.
Cabnet has served as artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3 since 2016. LCT3 produced 20 shows during his tenure, including Antoinette Nwandu’s Pass Over, Jackie Sibblies Drury’s Marys Seacole, and Grace McLean’s musical In the Green. His credits as a director include Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Gloria, Thérèse Raquin on Broadway, and Theresa Rebeck’s Poor Behavior.
“I am excited and humbled to bring my passion for developing, nurturing, and championing new work to Second Stage, one of New York’s most vital and influential homes for contemporary theater,” said Evan Cabnet. “As my mentor Andre Bishop says, we are living in a golden age of American playwriting, and Second Stage’s incredible history, and the home Carole Rothman has created for artists, sits firmly at the center of this inspiring and culturally rich moment.”
Second Stage is one of the biggest institutional theaters in New York City. While staging new work, the company has been particularly keen to offer second looks at relatively new American plays. Its production of Branden Jacobs-Jenkins’s Appropriate (originally staged off-Broadway in 2014) is currently playing an extended run on Broadway and is the winner of this year’s Tony Award for Best Revival of a Play.
