Episode #145
145. Championing Artistic Evolution with Emily Shooltz
Championing Artistic Evolution
What does it take to champion an artist's body of work whilenavigating the evolving landscape of nonprofit theater?
Emily Shooltz, Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in NYC, joins Jennifer to discuss her winding journey from dramaturgy and new play development to artistic leadership. With a passion for new work and emerging artists nurtured over 14 years at Ars Nova, Emily shares how her dramaturgical roots inform her approach to leadership and collaboration. Together, they explore Signature's unique residency model, championing multidisciplinary artists, and navigating what Emily calls an "elegant contraction" while staying true to an institution's mission.
From cultivating your artistic taste and articulating why work resonates with you to balancing creative vision with the realities of leadership, Emily offers insight into what it means to support artists and their evolving careers. It is a conversation about artistic curiosity, intentional leadership, and creating space for artists to thrive.
About Our Guest
Emily Shooltz has been the Artistic Director of Signature Theatre in New York City since fall 2024. She has two decades of experience identifying, cultivating, and mentoring artists and arts administrators.
She spent 14 years as the Associate Artistic Director at Ars Nova, where she worked to grow the non-proft from a fedgling development and producing organization to New York City's premier hub for emerging artists in live entertainment. In her years with the organization, she was integral to the commissioning, development and production of critically-acclaimed and award-winning shows including the Broadway musical KPOP, Dave Malloy's Tony Award-winning Natasha, Pierre & the Great Comet of 1812; Heather Christian's multiple-award winning Oratorio for Living Things; Jennifer Kidwell and Scott R. Sheppard's Obie Award-winning Underground Railroad Game; Bess Wohl’s nationally acclaimed Small Mouth Sounds; César Alvarez and the Lisps’ Lortel Award-winning FUTURITY and new work with music-theater stars The Bengsons, Sky-Pony and Andrew Butler, among many others. She also co-created and oversaw Ars Nova’s slate of artist development programs, where she worked with hundreds of emerging theater, music and comedy artists each year.
Emerging playwrights and projects she fostered in Ars Nova's Play Group and resident artist programs have gone on to win every major theater award, including Tonys, Pulitzer Prizes, Obies, MacArther Genius Awards, Whiting Awards, Drama Desk, Lortel and Outer Critics Circle Awards. Prior to Ars Nova, she served as the Literary Manager at Manhattan Theatre Club, where she oversaw the new play commissioning program and facilitated season planning for their Broadway and Of-Broadway theaters. She has held staf and freelance dramaturgy positions at the Wilma Theater; Centerstage, Baltimore; Yale Repertory Theatre and the O’Neill Theater Center; has guest lectured at schools including NYU, Williams, Columbia, Yale, Montclair State University and The New School, and served on the selection committees for the Kesselring Prize and Princess Grace Award.
She also consults on theater & television projects, live events and philanthropic work and has served as an adjunct faculty member at Montclair State University. Emily holds an MFA in Dramaturgy and Dramatic Criticism from the Yale School of Drama. Her work with emerging artists and writers has been profled by Playbill Online and The Interval."