The Guthrie's associate director of studio programming, Ben McGovern, has resigned. His last day was Friday.
Guthrie programmer resigns for new role
Ben McGovern is directing at Workhaus Collective. Both he and the Guthrie say his departure was friendly.
January 12, 2012 at 3:20PM
McGovern had been in charge of programming plays at the Guthrie's black-box studio theater for the past four years.
Both the Guthrie and McGovern said on Wednesday that the parting was amicable. McGovern said that he gave up the plum job because he is, at heart, "an artist, not an arts administrator."
"I appreciate the opportunity to work with some great people," he said. "I've had the best education about the theater locally and nationally that I could ever hope for. But at the end of the day, I took this flying leap because it's the right thing to do."
At the Guthrie, McGovern worked with Twin Cities and national companies interested in renting the 200-seat flexible space. He also directed some studio shows. His production of Adam Rapp's "The Edge of Our Bodies," starring Ali Rose Dachis, was a 2011 highlight.
During his tenure, McGovern ushered into the ninth-floor Dowling Studio some of the Twin Cities' most inventive troupes, including Live Action Set and Pillsbury House Theatre.
The Guthrie is seeking a replacement for McGovern, who already is in the rehearsal room elsewhere, directing Carson Kreitzer's "Flesh and the Desert" for Workhaus Collective. It opens Jan. 20.
A Twin Cities native, McGovern, 39, spent a year at the University of Iowa before coming home to work in the theater. He interned at the late Theatre de la Jeune Lune and served a stint programming the Bryant-Lake Bowl.
"I'm from this community and am living in the house where I grew up," he said. "I'm not going anywhere."
