SHIRLEY SEROTSKY

The Hangar Theatre has named SHIRLEY SEROTSKY artistic director. She served as the Hangar Theatre associate artistic director and education director from September 2019 to October 2020, and as interim artistic director since October 2020. Serotsky succeeds Michael Barakiva, who served as the theatre’s artistic director from September 2016 to October 2020. R.J. Lavine was recently appointed as the Hangar Theatre managing director, and Lavine and Serotsky will co-lead the Hangar. A native of Rochester, Serotsky holds a master’s degree in directing and theatrical production from Catholic University and a bachelor’s degree in drama and directing from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. She also studied musical theatre at the University of Michigan. Serotsky participated as an actor in the Hangar Theatre Lab Company during college and after college, spent almost two decades in the Washington, D.C. area-honing her craft as a theatre director, artistic producer, dramaturg, and educator. She held leadership and educational positions while conducting an active freelance directing career. She most recently served as staff dramaturg and public programmer for Mosaic Theater Company, and as a co-director of the Director’s Intensive for the Kennedy Center American College Theater Festival. Between 2008 and 2016 she served in a series of leadership positions. Serotsky has taught and mentored students from the age of six to 86 in the fields of directing, acting, improvisation, dramaturgy, play analysis, theatre appreciation, new-play development, and auditioning techniques in both a classroom setting and for resident theatre education programs.