Charles Towers (Artistic Director) Merrimack Repertory Theatre: Now in his tenth season as Artistic Director, Mr. Towers is responsible for selecting and producing all of the work seen on stage and directing two or three productions each year.  He has previously served as Artistic Director of Portland Stage Company (Maine) and Virginia Stage Company (Norfolk) and has been a guest director at theatres across the country.  International: Nixon's Nixon (Russell Lees) premiered at the Comedy Theatre on London’s West End in 2001 after winning awards in Edinburgh, Dublin, Toronto and Hong Kong.  New York: MRT's production of Secret Order at off-Broadway's 59E59 Theaters.  World Premieres: Vernon Early (Horton Foote) at Alabama Shakespeare Festival; The Dead-Eye Boy (Angus MacLachlan) at Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park; The Art of Sacrifice (Anthony Clarvoe), Real Hush-Hush (John Corwin), and Fallen (Craig Warner) at MRT.  American Premieres: The Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B and Fairy Tales of New York (both by J. P. Donleavy) at Virginia Stage Company, and My Mother Said I Never Should (Charlotte Keatley) at Huntington Theatre Company.  Regional: Notable productions include Secret Order, Dinah Was, Augusta, The Homecoming, The Price, Rounding Third, Boston Marriage, The Drawer Boy, Gun-Shy and Three Days of Rain at MRT; Closer, Art, How I Learned To Drive, The Caretaker, Valley Song and To Kill A Mockingbird at Cincinnati Playhouse; The Glass Menagerie and A Streetcar Named Desire at Huntington; Antony and Cleopatra and Oleanna at Oregon Shakespeare Festival; Who’s Afraid of Virginia Woolf?, Waiting For Godot, Wedding Band, American Buffalo, Glengarry Glen Ross, Speed-the-Plow, Cat on a Hot Tin Roof, The Night of the Iguana, and Betrayal at Virginia Stage Company; After the Fall and Old Times at Portland Stage Company; and Benjamin Britten’s opera The Turn of The Screw at Virginia Opera Company. Other: Mr. Towers is a past member of the Board of Directors of Theatre Communications Group (TCG), the national service organization for America’s non-profit theatre. 

Steven Leon (Executive Director) Merrimack Repertory Theatre: Now in his first season at MRT, he joins Artistic Director Charles Towers in forming the artistic-managerial partnership common in non-profit professional theatre companies.  As Executive Director, Mr. Leon is responsible for leading all institutional activities, including development, marketing, finance, Trustee activities, facilities and operations. Regional: Mr. Leon comes to MRT from Harvard University, where he was Assistant General Manager of the American Repertory Theater from 2005 to 2011. While in Cambridge he had the privilege of working with ART founders Robert Brustein and Robert Orchard, as well as many internationally acclaimed directors including Robert Woodruff, Janos Szasz, Neil Bartlett and Dominique Serrand. He also had the pleasure working with many actors familiar to MRT patrons including Will LeBow (Two Jews Walk into a War...) and Karen McDonald (The Blonde, the Brunette, and the Vengeful Redhead). Prior to his tenure at ART, Mr. Leon was Managing Director of ANTENNA, an experimental, site-specific theatre company based in Sausalito, CA from 1998 until 2004. Before that, he spent three years as Managing Director at the Pirate Playhouse on Florida’s Sanibel Island. From 1988 until 1995 he was Managing Director of the White River Theatre Festival of Vermont, which he co-founded with Stephen Legawiec. In addition to his administrative work, Mr. Leon directed many WRTF productions including The Comedy of Errors, Talley’s Folly, Sleuth, Amadeus, True West, Born Yesterday and Deathtrap. As Resident Designer, he created the lighting for over eighty shows including Jungle of the Cities, and the world-premieres of The Snow Queen and Journal of the Plague Year. He is the co-author of two full-length plays. Education: Mr. Leon graduated from Washington University in St. Louis with a degree in Theatre (Directing & Lighting Design). Other: He lived in Israel in the mid-80s where he spent three years farming grapes as a member of Kibbutz Mitzpeh Shalem. He is married to artist Sarah Leon. He currently serves on the Board of Directors of the Maine-based Ziggurat Theatre Ensemble.

Board of Trustees

Nancy L. Donahue – Chair  
Debra Grossman – President
Stephen J. Irish – Vice President
Richard Bolton – Treasurer
Susan Mitchell – Secretary

Roy R. Anderson

Denny Bey

Michael G. Conway
Brenda J. Costello
Paul Drouilhet

Denise Glaser

Frank Hopkins

Terry T. Howard

Alison E. Kalman
Ann P. Kazer

Arnold M. Kerzner

Mary Jane King

Patricia McCafferty

Robert J. McDonald

Robert S. McKittrick

Linda Monticciolo

Lincoln Pinsky

Caroline Rider

Stefan C. Schatzki

William J. Soucy

Ruth White

Sandra Wilson

Board of Overseers

Ronald M. Ansin

Robert A. Caruso

Winslow H. Duke

Michael W. Gallagher

Arnold S. Lerner

Barbara Savitt Pearson

John H. Pearson, Jr.

Brian J. Stafford, CPA

Nicola Tsongas