1st Stage, Tysons’ award-winning professional theater, has announced the appointment of Alex Levy as its Artistic/Managing Director effective Sept. 1.
“I am thrilled to join the 1st Stage team. I know 1st Stage is entering an exciting time and that there is a very bright future ahead. It’s a remarkable theater with a vibrant vision. 1st Stage’s high quality theater is helping to create a dynamic cultural hub in the new Tysons city,” said Levy. “I know firsthand the challenges and opportunities that growing companies like 1st Stage face. I am honored to help lead this vital arts organization as it begins its newest chapter.”
Founding Artistic Director Mark Krikstan has led 1st Stage in its formative years on a wonderful journey of exploration, development, growth and success. “I am more than excited about the Board’s selection of Alex Levy who brings talent, energy, and a wealth of experience to 1st Stage. I look forward to helping Alex and the Board as 1st Stage grows and flourishes," said Krikstan.
Levy’s work has been seen throughout the United States and around the world. He currently serves as the Artistic Director of Ballybeg Theatre in New York City and the Managing Director of The Watts Village Theater Company in Los Angeles. He also serves as a Resident Director at The Road Theatre in Los Angeles and as an Artistic Associate of The Savage Players in Los Angeles. Prior to moving to the West Coast, Levy spent seven years as Artistic Director of Pegasus Players in Chicago.
In New York, Levy most recently directed the world premiere of The Taste Of It by John Adams for Ballybeg. Also for Ballybeg, he directed the world premiere of Steven Simoncic’s Broken Fences and Juan Francisco Villa’s Empanada For a Dream. He will direct the West Coast Premiere of Broken Fences at The Road Theatre in the winter of 2015. After the Ballybeg run, Empanada For a Dream was remounted twice in New York (The New Ohio Theatre & The Duke Theatre). In Chicago, it was produced by Collaboraction and Teatro Vista and was chosen as one of the best productions of 2012 by The Chicago Tribune and The Chicago Reader. It was remounted in 2013 for Teatro Vista and 16th Street Theatre where it was nominated for multiple Joseph Jefferson Awards. The show subsequently moved to The Los Angeles Theatre Center and to the Coyne Center for the Performing Arts in Syracuse. It will be produced in 2015 in Monterey, California.
Not a newcomer to the DC Theater world, Levy was Stage Manager at Studio Theatre during the summer of 1996 when he stage managed the 2nd Stage production of Caryl Churchill’s Mad Forest.
Levy holds a BA in Political Science with a minor in Literature from The University of Rochester and an MFA in Directing from The University of California-Los Angeles.