As outgoing managing director Gabriella Calicchio leaves the Children's Theatre on Nov. 11 for a job at the Disney museum in San Francisco, her replacement has been named.
Tim Jennings, who has been managing director of Seattle Children's Theatre for three years, will assume the administrative leadership post in Minneapolis in February. He and artistic director Peter Brosius will jointly run the theater, each reporting to the board.
Jennings, 43, will have a big to-do list at the nation's largest theater for youth.
The theater is repairing its balance sheet after several years of deficits. In response, the Tony-winning company pared staff and cut programming in its Cargill second stage, even as it has drawn robust business at the box office for its spring production of "Annie."
The theater's holiday production of "The Wizard of Oz," staged by "Annie" director Peter Rothstein, begins previews Tuesday.
Jennings, whose hobbies include collecting and performing Scottish and Irish folk music, also spent eight years as managing director of Roseneath, a youth-focused touring company based in Toronto.
A graduate of the Humber College in Toronto, Jennings and his wife, Truly, have an adolescent son.
"With his exceptional experience and leadership in developing and supporting theatrical experiences for young people, he is uniquely qualified to lead this organization into its next stage of continued growth and development," said Children's Theatre board chair Peter Carter, a partner at Dorsey & Whitney law firm.
