CTC’s new leader Rick Dildine brings Southern charm and ‘baby rave’ energy to post

Rick Dildine has lately been musing on baby raves — dance parties with glowsticks and trap remixes pitched to infants and toddlers. Shortly after starting as artistic director of the Children’s Theatre Company in July, he went to such an event at a festival in Denmark.

He was the only one there without a kid.

“What was so special, sitting in space with theater for the very young, was not just seeing them being affected by so many senses but watching the parents gasp as their children discovered new things,” Dildine said, speaking by Zoom from New York, where he was on another work trip. “The babies were not following the story, but they were making discoveries and getting into the rhythm of it.”

That rave got him thinking about his vision as he steps into a leadership role last occupied by Peter Brosius, an energetic stamina maniac who retired after 27 years.

Dildine would like to add more live music to the offerings at the nation’s largest theater for youth and families. He also would like to broaden the reach of the Tony-winning company’s core demographic, now ages 5-12, by increasing programming for the under-5 set and finding ways to keep teens in the fold.

“We serve the most important audience in the country,” Dildine said. “Whether it’s the first time for someone seeing a show or a tradition, it’s an event and we have to make it the best event it can be.”

Natty and classically stylish, he could be mistaken for a model who fell out of a J. Crew catalog. But he has bohemian sensibilities, and gets charged by artistic bustle, including hanging out in coffee shops and cafés near his apartment in the North Loop in Minneapolis. (The Minnesota Star Tribune photographed him in one of his favorite haunts, Bellecour Bakery in Minneapolis.)

Dildine speaks in a charming Southern accent, of which he is very proud. It tells of his growing up on a farm in rural Wynne, Ark., a community where the family entertainment often involved telling stories around a campfire.

Those gatherings left a deep impression on him, he said, and foreshadowed his journey into the arts, although he first wanted to compose music for movies.

“I took my first music theory class and realized that is not for me,” he said. But he remained keenly interested in the emotional arcs of stories, and how they bring people together. He then trained to be an actor, but realized that he was better suited to run institutions that foster storytelling.

“I’m always interested in giving people the story that they need,” he said. That makes it sound like tales are like pills.

“I never want theater to feel like medicine — like you’ve got to eat your vegetables — but it’s rich for the soul,” Dildine said. “Many of us can point to a handful of experiences in the theater that still resonate with us.”

For Dildine, that includes the first time, in 1998, when he saw Alan Cumming star in “Cabaret” on Broadway. “I didn’t know there could be that rawness onstage.”

He also loved the authenticity of the Broadway cast of “August: Osage County,” a show that cuts close to his rural roots.

“I didn’t know I needed that story, but I did — it opened up a side of humanity for me,” Dildine said.

Dildine came to Minnesota after running the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He has a history of directing epic Shakespeare as well as musicals.

“They all require an understanding of pace and pitch, language and movement, and all that feels very transferable to what we’re doing today,” he said.

He has been running ever since he landed in Minnesota. When asked what has surprised him most about the job, he compliments the CTC team and then reflects on the pace and commitment required to lead the company.

“The word ‘rigor’ was used a lot when I interviewed for the job, and I had an assumption about what that meant,” Dildine said. “But I’ve come to learn there’s 10 times more passion and rigor than I ever thought.”

He walks and jogs to stay fit. He meditates. And he has a quiet day of reading each week. Those things help him cope as he gets used to the role. But he also uses his outlook to handle the pressures of work and uses the pace as inspiration.

“We’re in the business of making memories, and we use stories to do that,” he said. “This audience is going to remember every detail of a performance for the rest of their lives, and so we have to approach this work with the goal of making the best work of our lives.”