Martin Miller, a theater executive director and producer with over a decade of leadership at the head of the Obie Award-winning TheatreSquared in Fayetteville, Arkansas, has been named the new executive director of Princeton’s McCarter Theatre Center. Miller will step into the role on September 7 at the performing arts center located on the campus of Princeton University, where he will report to McCarter’s board of directors and work alongside artistic director Sarah Rasmussen, who is set to remain in charge of artistic direction.
In his more than 13 years with TheatreSquared, Miller was able to take the organization “from three plays on a start-up budget to more than 400 performances and $7.5 million in revenue each year,” according to the McCarter press release.
He “produced 135 plays and new play workshops” but also “led fundraising, design, and construction for the company’s two-venue, permanent home,” which received “six national and international architectural awards.” In total, Miller “directly raised $44 million for the company while working with teams to expand audiences more than twentyfold.”
“The building blocks of leading a vibrant theater company are crafting ambitious strategic plans and delivering on them; building audiences and keeping and expanding them; raising funds and spending them wisely — all to support the creation of ever-more exciting artistic work,” says the president of McCarter Theatre Center’s board of trustees, W. Rochelle Calhoun, who chaired the search committee and serves as the vice president for campus life at Princeton University. “Martin has proven his ability to do all this and more. We are thrilled to add his deep experience to our leadership team.”
The search was made possible, Calhoun notes, because of help from members of the board of trustees and consultants from the national executive search firm Isaacson, Miller, the latter of which also helped appoint Paula Abreu as the McCarter director of special programming in 2022. The committee spent six months looking for someone to fill the vacancy, which followed both the 2017 resignation of Timothy Shields and the brief leadership of Michael Rosenberg, who left last year. Calhoun also extended appreciation to McCarter’s interim managing director, Susie Medak, during the transitional period.
Miller attended Carleton College in Minnesota and studied arts leadership at DePaul University in Chicago before becoming an associate producer at the Chicago Shakespeare Theater until he joined TheatreSquared in 2009.
While overseeing operations at TheatreSquared, he also established the National Stages Program, a consortium of participating theaters that acts as a subscription service with member pricing and benefits at professional venues across the nation, according to its website, nationalstages.org.
Miller is married to music professor and author Elizabeth Hellmuth Margulis, a graduate of both the Peabody Conservatory of Music at Johns Hopkins University and Columbia University, McCarter’s statement continues. Since Margulis joined the Princeton University faculty in 2019, where she merges music theory with cognitive science as the director of the Music Cognition Lab, according to her Department of Music biography, Miller has been commuting between Fayetteville and Princeton. The couple has three children, all of whom are attending Princeton Public Schools.
“McCarter is one of the great American arts centers, and Princeton is a special place,” Miller says in a quote. “It’s a singular privilege to partner with Sarah Rasmussen, the board, the talented staff, and most importantly, with this community to help launch its exciting next stage. You can feel the energy and excitement for what’s possible when you walk in the door. Here, there’s an incredible legacy to build on — and immeasurable potential for growth.”
“I’m excited to partner with Martin as we thoughtfully connect with audiences and grow this beloved institution. We share a commitment to world-class artistry that sparks the imagination and creates a center for conversation, community, and belonging,” Rasmussen says. “We are thrilled to align Martin’s track record of getting big ideas off the ground with McCarter’s strategic plans — including our signature collaborations with Princeton University and community partners.”
For more information on the McCarter Theatre Center and its upcoming programs, including a look at the next season, visit the website at www.mccarter.org.
