Theater producer and director Rick Dildine has been named the next artistic director of Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis.

Dildine, 45, has been the artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival since 2017, and previously served as the director of the Shakespeare Festival St. Louis and in leadership roles at other theaters around the U.S.

CTC’s longtime artistic director Peter Brosius, who took on the role in 1997 and significantly expanded the organization’s profile, announced his departure earlier this year.

Dildine starts at CTC on July 1.

At the helm, Dildine hopes to further boost the Children’s Theatre Company’s profile, including continuing to support the production of original theatrical works. CTC is currently at the center of a national partnership aimed at creating new multicultural, multigenerational plays.

Dildine defined his goal as creating “boundary-pushing, rigorous work for young people.”

“I think it’s critical that we’re doing new work each year and that we’re keeping the theater as a place where real conversations can happen,” he said.

In previous leadership roles, Dildine has successfully strengthened theaters’ financial positions while also prioritizing inclusivity, CTC officials said in a statement announcing Dildine’s hiring. He was the unanimous choice of the company’s search committee, they said.

Dildine grew up in rural Wynne, Ark. Three generations before him — his father, grandfather and great-grandfather — were all farmers, as is his brother. But he quickly realized his passion lay in theater.

“I worked on my dad’s farm for a summer,” he said, “and he fired me at the end of it!”

In college and graduate school, he trained as an actor, he said, and began directing in his mid-20s. Since then, he’s led theatrical companies in Massachusetts, Illinois, Kentucky and other states.

“(Theater) offers a window into understanding what it means to be a human being in this world,” he said. “And if you can open up a little bit of empathy for another person, that’s a success.”

Children’s Theatre Company is regarded as the largest and one of the most well-respected children’s theaters in North America.

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