The former managing director of the Philadelphia Theatre Company will join the School of Communication Nov. 1 as managing director of the Theatre and Interpretation Center.
Diane Claussen applied for the job at Northwestern after reading the job listing on ARTSEARCH, the online job listing hosted by Theatre Communications Group, a national organization..
“In order to fill the position, we held a national search and people from all over the country applied for the job,” Theatre Department Chair Rives Collins said. “There were some outstanding applicants, but she was chosen as a finalist and was flown to campus for a series of interviews and emerged as the candidate of choice.”
Prior to working in Philadelphia, Claussen was managing director at the Paper Mill Playhouse in Millburn, N.J., and before that spent six years as the executive director of the Court Theatre at the University of Chicago. Claussen’s new job at the Theatre and Interpretation Center will involve managing budgets, theatre spaces and time during a production, Collins said. Ultimately, she will be responsible for bringing together all the resources needed for a show to happen.
“I love to manage the artistic process because I am constantly challenged and rewarded by the task of producing art and finding ways to share it with the greatest number of people,” Claussen said. “(My goals are) to optimally manage the resources (involving) budgets, people and processes and to support the best work of the students, faculty, guest artists and staff at TIC.”
Claussen also plans to get personally involved with students in the theatre department. In addition to managing productions at TIC, she hopes to teach arts management classes.
“It will be great to have Diane on board because she seems very excited to work with students,” Communication senior Chase Altenbern said. “I have particularly noticed a lack of arts management curriculum in our theatre department, and as someone who works in that area, I can’t wait to try to get in on one of her classes … I hope that she will create the foundations for a permanent arts management curriculum at Northwestern.”
Claussen will partner with artistic director Henry Godinez throughout the year on productions held in the Theatre and Interpretation Center. By cooperating, the pair hopes to continue to produce shows at a high level of excellence, Godinez said.
“My job is to come up with exciting artistic programming and opportunities for our students and our community,” Godinez said. “Her job is to facilitate that and help us realize what our collective vision is both financially and logistically. I absolutely see her as a partner … I’m really looking forward to a wonderful first year with her.”
