Kelvin Dinkins Jr. ’14 Named Executive Director of American Repertory Theater

By
William Hutton
April 22, 2022
Logo for American Repertory Theater

Kelvin Dinkins Jr. ’14 has been named the Executive Director of the American Repertory Theater at Harvard University. He will become the first Black executive director in the theater’s 42-year history, and brings with him a vast wealth of knowledge from his position as General Manager at the Yale Repertory Theater in New Haven, Connectitect. 

The American Repertory Theatre (ART) is one of the country’s most prominent regional theaters and an incubator for Broadway productions. Dinkins will oversee the day-to-day running of the business, as well as share overall leadership duties with Artistic Director, Diane Paulus.

Dinkins shared his vision to “bring theater where it’s not” in a recent conversation with The Boston Globe. He hopes his tenure at ART will address the question,  “How do we build the next generation of theatergoers?” adding, “This will be the challenge for our nonprofit theaters going forward.” 

Dinkins completed an MFA in Theater Management and Production at the School of the Arts. He said, in an interview discussing his career with the Princeton Alumni Magazine, that “Columbia’s program was perfect for me as I got to see first-hand the particulars of the non-profit and commercial theater industry all the while learning from a diverse group of practicing, leading industry professionals.”

Dinkins takes up his new position as Executive Director of the American Repertory Theater on June 1, 2022. 

Kelvin Dinkins Jr. is currently the Assistant Dean and Assistant Professor Adjunct in Theater Management for David Geffen School of Drama and the General Manager of Yale Repertory Theatre. Previously, Dinkins worked as General Manager at Two River Theater in Red Bank, New Jersey, where he helped to produce over 25 productions and two regional theater original cast albums, including Be More Chill. Dinkin began managing theater while an undergraduate at Princeton University where he received his BA in English, and received a Certificate in Theatre & Dance from the Lewis Center for the Arts. He earned his MFA in Theatre Management and Producing from Columbia University’s School of the Arts.