As the Executive Director of The Drama League, Bevin Ross leads one of the longest-running arts service organizations in the country. The Drama League was founded in 1916 with the mission to advance American Theater but establishing The Directors Project in 1984 has positioned the organization as the preeminent artist home for stage directors
The Drama League has a record of success built over decades. Their alums include 22 Tony Award nominees, eight of whom won the Tony Award for Best Direction. In the upcoming season, 30 percent of Broadway and off-Broadway shows will be directed by Drama League alums. In addition, there are over one hundred alums in artistic leadership positions nationwide. Many more are serving as Assistant and Associate Directors across the country, representing an astonishing breadth of influence and impact on the American theater.
A BRIGHT FUTURE
Ms. Ross is entering her fourth year at The Drama League and has worked for nonprofit arts and cultural organizations in New York City for over 15 years. Her deep experience with fundraising and her commitment to the next generation of theater directors and their audiences helped guide The Drama League through the pandemic.
After a year of uncertainty for live theater, Bevin was all too ready to have The Drama League return to in-person programming. She collaborated with the entire staff and Board to announce the most ambitious expansion of The Directors Project in its 40-year history.
When Bevin joined The Drama League, she partnered with Artistic Director Gabriel Stelian-Shanks, who has been at the organization since 2001. Together they began two years of strategic planning, data analysis, and conversations with over two hundred artists, philanthropists, foundation leadership, and Board Members to redesign The Drama League’s portfolio of artist support.
Through this radical new work, The Drama League programs were expanded to more impactfully deploy resources to artists, address the damage of the COVID-19 pandemic, and begin dismantling inequity, racism, and bias in the field. Launched in May of 2022, the new program suite deepens and accelerates early-career artists’ creative development, utilizing field-leading resources to expand their career potential.
AN EDUCATIONAL EXPERIENCE
One of the programmatic overhauls is the educational experience of the directing fellows, which now includes extended residencies at world-class partner theaters. For example, the Drama League Stage Directing Fellows Nadia Guevara and Ibi Owolabi are currently placed at Manhattan Theatre Club and McCarter Theater Center as assistant directors on Cost of Living and The Wolves, respectively, among other educational experiences. Securing The Drama League fellow Ibi Owolabi’s first Broadway production is another example of the success of The Drama League’s programs.
Bevin is a professional in the arts but also a true theater fan, raising an active eight-year-old who loves going to the theater with his Mom. As a Board member of The Drama League, I have had the pleasure to work with Bevin, and I asked her about her favorite part of the job. “All my life,” Bevin recalls, “I’ve said my ambition was to be the best audience member ever when I grew up, and that is what I am, and that is what I am teaching my son as well!”
She is most proud to foster artists’ careers—including directors—through The Drama League. “As resources and support dwindle for our field, we must remember directors are the leaders in theater, and they have the agency to make changes for our field. If we want to change, we must invest in them for the future of the performing arts. I am grateful to be a part of their support system.”
