Meet Our New Managing Director, Dennis Whipple!
Whipple Joins in a Moment of Prosperity for the Organization, as it Doubles the Honorarium for its Playwriting Fellows, Increases Stipend for Interstate 73 Writers, and Receives its Largest Grant Ever
$160,000 from the MacMillan Foundation Will Help Page 73 Build Awareness Around its Programs and the Groundbreaking Work of the Playwrights They Support
In a moment of milestones for Page 73, the Tony and Obie Award-winning organization that develops and produces the work of early-career playwrights who have yet to receive a professional production in New York City, Dennis Whipple steps into the role of Managing Director. Succeeding Amanda Feldman—who left to become Managing Director of Classic Stage Company—Whipple will join Artistic Director Michael Walkup as the leadership team for this acclaimed Off-Broadway company. The organization has also promoted Kari Olmon, formerly Associate Producer, to the position of Associate Artistic Director, reflecting her growing producing and artistic responsibilities.
Whipple joins the Page 73 team from New Jersey's Paper Mill Playhouse, where he served as Director of Operations. Says Michael Walkup, “As we grow our staff during a precarious moment—of prosperity for our organization but serious turmoil for the industry—it’s reassuring to be drawing on Dennis’s vast experience and thoughtful, people-focused management philosophy. We’re proud to welcome him to the Page 73 team.”
“I am honored and grateful to be partnering with Michael and the Board of Directors at Page 73 in building upon their twenty-five years of launching playwrights’ careers and producing exceptionally high quality off-Broadway productions” says Dennis Whipple. “I look forward to connecting with our playwrights, audiences and donor community to build on the theater's tremendous legacy in new and exciting ways.”
Whipple joins the company just as it receives its biggest-ever grant: $160,000 from The MacMillan Foundation to support a branding and a strategic marketing effort to increase awareness and engagement around its playwright programs and off-Broadway productions. While this grant offers momentous support to the organization for spreading word about its playwright-centric mission, work, and the work of playwrights themselves, Page 73 will increase the financial support their programs offer writers starting in 2024. The organization will double its honorarium for the Page 73 Playwriting Fellowship to $20,000—which is awarded in addition to a public workshop and a $10,000 discretionary budget for the Fellow to direct towards developing further work through travel, research, workshops, and relationship-building. Playwrights in the annual Interstate 73 writing group—where writers meet twice a month to share their newest pages and discuss their work with their peers and Page 73’s Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director—will now receive a stipend of $3,000 each (previously $1,200).
As Off-Broadway suffers through a financial crisis that’s resulted in major contractions, layoffs, and mass uncertainty, Page 73 is reinforcing its commitment to both the artists in its orbit and its own employees. Beyond increasing funds for artists, the organization has created two new positions for its 2022-2023 season apprentices Morgan Barnes-Whitehead and Vanessa Vivas, who will now stay with the company as, respectively, Development Assistant and Marketing Assistant. Buttressed by The MacMillan Foundation’s significant grant, they will help further the reach of the organization’s work.
Read more about our staff and our mission.
Press Contact: Blake Zidell at Blake Zidell & Associates: 917.572.2593, blake@blakezidell.com
Page 73 Staff (L-R): Dennis Whipple, Vanessa Vivas, Morgan Barnes-Whitehead, Kari Olmon, and Michael Walkup. Photo by Daniel J Vasquez.
