South Coast Repertory preps for arrival of new managing director, second in 60 years
This week was a whirlwind for Suzanne Appel — recently selected to manage the business of Costa Mesa’s South Coast Repertory, succeeding longtime director Paula Tomei — as she participated in a sort of rush week through the local theater community.
The 44-year-old managing director of New York City’s off-Broadway Vineyard Theatre will take over the reins of the nonprofit theater company in September, working alongside Artistic Director David Ivers as the second managing director in SCR’s 60-year history.
Her appointment was announced by the organization’s board of trustees on July 23 at the end of a nationwide search to replace Tomei, who’s been with the company since 1979.
“South Coast Repertory’s reputation, particularly for new play commissioning, development and production, is something I’d been aware of for most of my career,” Appel said ahead of a weeklong visit to Costa Mesa designed as an orientation to the theater company, its board members and local stakeholders.
“What I think [SCR] does incredibly well is appeal to a wide range of ages,” she continued. “At this stage of my life I was really looking for community, and I’m excited to find that in Orange County.”
Growing up in Denver, Appel’s first blush with the theater came when she was in the first grade and participated in an after-school drama program.
“I absolutely fell in love with the theater — I would act in any school show that would have me,” she recalled. “Then, in college, I started directing because that was a way you get to pick the plays. The part I really loved about it was bringing together the plays and the audiences. That’s what production is.”
Soon after graduating in 2002 from Wesleyan University, where she earned a bachelor’s degree in theater and American studies, Appel realized she wanted more stability in her career than was afforded by the boom-and-bust lifestyle of an auditioning actor. So, she entered a four-year MFA program at the Yale School of Drama in 2007.
Paula Tomei, who started in 1979 as a subscriptions assistant and grew alongside the Costa Mesa theater company, has been the only managing director in SCR’s 60-year history.
Two years into the program, she added MBA-level work in nonprofit management from the university’s School of Management out of a desire to help arts organizations thrive.
“An arts organization I worked for at the time had an incredible mission but was struggling financially,” Appel said. “I didn’t know a lot about finance at the time, but I recognized it wasn’t working. I really felt called to learn more.”
During her seven-year tenure at Vineyard Theatre, Appel steered the company through the COVID-19 pandemic, creating a four-year plan that raised all arts worker wages by more than 30% and helping establish the company’s first strategic development and equity, diversity and inclusion plans.
Before joining Vineyard, Appel was the director of external affairs at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and managing director of the Cutting Ball Theater in San Francisco.
A winning combination of possessing a passion for the arts and a head for business made Appel a standout candidate for Tomei, who began at SCR as a subscriptions assistant and worked her way to general manager and, eventually, managing director.
“Not only does [Suzanne] have the passion for the theater and the work and the new work, but she’s someone who could really recognize what they were going to inherit with an organization like South Coast Repertory,” Tomei said Thursday.
“You have to be able to work with a variety of individuals from all sides — not the least of which is your partner, the artistic director — to shape what the future looks like and what the individual seasons look like to get there.”
Working with Ivers and reporting to the SCR’s board, Appel will oversee the organization’s business operations, including fundraising, marketing and community relations, handling a $12.6-million annual operating budget with assets of $74.7 million.
Ivers called Appel’s selection a “thrilling moment” for the company.
“I am honored to be in partnership with such an accomplished and invigorating leader,” he said in a statement announcing the news. “Suzanne brings with her a wealth of experience, accomplishments and vision. Her natural charisma and ambition are matched only by her curiosity and love of theater — I am confident ours will be a winning partnership for SCR.”
Tomei’s last day on the job will be Aug. 31. Although it’s mere weeks away, rehearsals for the upcoming season will soon be underway and the board will have to approve the budget for the next fiscal year.
After that, the Laguna Beach resident will engage in some farewell events with staff members and artists ahead of Appel’s arrival to the position on Sept. 3. Tomei says she’s confident about South Coast Repertory’s future and hopeful for her successor’s role in it.
“I just hope she has a long and successful life here,” she said Thursday. “I wish her all the fun and the joy, and more, as she takes it over and takes it on.”
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