By Randall Yip, AsAmNews Executive Editor
By its own admission, one of the largest non-profit theatres in the country will be undergoing a major transition under its newly-announced artistic director, Snelah Desai.
He will join the Center Theatre Group in Los Angeles from the same position at the East West Players, the largest Asian American theatre group in the country which he’s led since 2016.
Desai will oversee three theatres under the Center Theatre Groups umbrella, the Mark Taper Forum, the Ahmanson Theater and the Kirk Douglas Theatre.
“I am honored to be its next artistic director-as well as its first artistic director of color,” said Snell in an email to AsAmNews. “I am humbled by the opportunity to enrich that legacy by uplifting and centering the diverse and thriving communities that comprise the beating heart of Los Angeles. I truly can’t wait to get started in August.”
Desai will take over for Michael Ritchie who retired in December 2021 after 16 years as artistic director.
RELATED: East West Players artistic director leaving for another LA theater
When it announced its search for Ritchie’s replacement, it stated its intention of becoming an “anti-racist organization and creating and supporting an artistic community of leaders and changemakers.”
It sees Desai as just the person to do that and he’s enthused about the opportunity.
“Many of these values are at the very heart of who I am and what I strive to be and achieve as a leader – such as artistic ambition, human connection, and the value of being an anti-racist organization and centering equity, diversity, and inclusion. As the new artistic director, one of my first goals is to uplift these core values through both my leadership and the work you see on our stages,” he said.
“Snehal is an ideal and invigorating leader for this inflection point in our history,” Gail Berman-Masters, Search Chair and Vice President of the Board of Directors, said in a statement. “He is bold and resourceful, and we know he will bring that same exuberance and energy to our stages.”
One of Desai’s many challenges will be helping the Center Theatre Group rebound from the lasting impacts of being shut down by the pandemic. According to the Los Angeles Times, the Group’s Kirk Douglas Theatre may be in danger of closing once again and this time for good. The Theatre sits next to a planned low income housing project in Culver City and due to the construction of that project, the Kirk Douglas Theatre may have to close again. Center Theatre Group CEO Meghan Pressman says if that happens, it may be difficult for the Douglas to reopen as part of what she described as a “cash-crunched organization.”
Those sorts of challenges are nothing new to Desai. Under his leadership, he says the East West Players eliminated its debt and he “brought it to a place of financial stability, contributing greatly to the theatre’s ability to get through the COVID pandemic lockdown.”
He will leave East West in June and start at the Center Theatre Group in August. He will exit with many fond memories and a sense of family.
“The connections made, especially with the community of artists, is something I don’t intend to leave behind amidst this transition,” he said. “With Center Theatre Group and East West Players just a few blocks away from each other, the door is thankfully never closed to any of the things I’ll miss.”
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