Incoming Denver Center Theatre Company artistic director Kent Thompson has named Bruce K. Sevy his associate artistic director in a move intended to return the DCTC’s new-play development program to national prominence.
Sevy has served in the same position under Thompson at the Alabama Shakespeare Festival since 2002. Sevy came to the DCTC in 1982 and administered its new-play program from 1996-2002, when it was eliminated by budget cuts. His directions included “Master Class,” which he workshopped before its ’95 Broadway debut.
“Bruce knows the city, the culture, the artists, the company and the audience,” Thompson said Wednesday. “And we work so well together. I have developed such a level of trust in the work he does with new plays. I think we share the same aesthetic tastes.”
Sevy’s primary responsibility will be to build an annual new-play festival to debut next February in conjunction with an as-yet unnamed world premiere. He also will direct “A Christmas Carol” and one other mainstage work.
“I am excited to be coming back to Denver Center and continuing my working relationship with Kent,” said Sevy. “I really enjoy working with him. I think he has used me as a sounding board, and we communicate well. My working relationship with him is really collegial, so continuing that in Denver will be great.”
DCTC trustee Judi Wolf said everyone at the DCPA is thrilled. “He knows us, and we know him,” she said.
Actor Tracy Shaffer Witherspoon said that with Sevy’s hire, “the nerves of transaction are calming. Kent has a bold, new vision, and Bruce’s strength is new plays. I think they will make a great team.”
Sevy said outgoing artistic director Donovan Marley deserves great credit for making new-play development a priority at the DCTC, where 76 plays have been given world premieres in 26 years.
“There has been a tremendous amount of new work in Denver, and Donovan is responsible for all of it,” he said.
The irony, Sevy said, is that he kept his house in Denver until just this past September.
“But a rolling stone gathers no moss,” he said.
