For Artistic Director Jacob Padron, a radical change at his theater is an opportunity for collective reimagining
In February of 2022, Long Wharf Theatre, one of the country\u2019s most respected regional theaters, released a bold statement. Starting with its 2022/23 season, the theater will not renew the lease on the space it has occupied for 57 years on the outskirts of New Haven, CT. Rather, under the leadership of artistic director Jacob Padr\xf3n, who joined Long Wharf in late 2018, the theater will commit at least for a few years to an itinerant production model that \u201cwill prioritize equity, accessibility and transparency, guided by three core pillars: revolutionary partnerships, artistic innovation, and radical inclusion.\u201d Coming at a time when, especially in the wake of the pandemic, theaters all over the country are grappling with ways to reinvigorate and diversify their production models as well as their audience base, Long Wharf\u2019s announcement made waves. Did this mark the beginning of the end of the traditional regional-theater model? In this interview with Pier Carlo Talenti, Jacob \u2014 who is also the founder and artistic director of The Sol Project and whose career includes innovative producing stints at such august institutions as Chicago\u2019s Steppenwolf Theatre and New York\u2019s Public Theater \u2014 explains the impetus for this sea change in the theater\u2019s production model. He also imagines a new path forward not only for his own theater but for the field as a whole.https://longwharf.org/