When Avery Willis Hoffman takes the reins as the Marilyn F. Vitale Artistic Director of Court Theatre on November 1, she’ll be steering the University of Chicago theater into uncharted territory.
She is only the third artistic director in Court’s 70-year history — following founding director Nicholas Rudall and Charles Newell, who retired after 30 years — and is the first woman and first person of color in the role. The 49-year-old also comes to Chicago with a background that includes few directing credits, unlike her predecessors.
Nor does Hoffman have previous experience working with Court. Indeed, the first production she’s ever seen at the theater is this season’s opener, Theodore Ward’s “Big White Fog.”
What Hoffman does bring is a deep academic background in the classics and more than two decades as a leader and producer of theater, opera, music, the visual arts and interdisciplinary performances all over the world. Her most recent job was as the inaugural artistic director of the Brown Arts Institute and professor of the practice of arts and classics at Brown University, a post she held from 2020 to 2024.
At Brown, Hoffman oversaw the opening of The Lindemann Performing Arts Center and curated its first season of more than 50 multidisciplinary projects featuring student and faculty work, along with visiting artists such as Carrie Mae Weems, William Kentridge, Tanya Tagaq and Peter Sellars. She also launched several major initiatives, among them the Artistic Innovators Collective, a gathering of local, national and international artists; IGNITE, a multi-year, campus-wide arts series; and ArtsCrew, an arts workforce development program.
A classicist like Rudall, Hoffman has a DPhil and MSt in classical languages and literature from the University of Oxford, where she was a Marshall Scholar, and a bachelor’s in classics and English from Stanford University.
Her studies of Greek and Roman drama and Shakespeare focused on modern interpretations, especially of Euripides, her specialty.
Hoffman’s previous jobs included inaugural program director at Park Avenue Armory in New York City and content developer at Ralph Appelbaum Associates, where her main project was developing the permanent exhibitions of the Smithsonian Institution’s National Museum of African American History and Culture. She’s also partnered with institutions such as The Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Studio Museum in Harlem, National Black Theatre, New York City Opera and the Aspen Institute. And she’s collaborated extensively with director Peter Sellars on global theater, opera and dance productions, including Shakespeare’s “Othello,” Mozart’s “Zaide” and Toni Morrison’s “Desdemona,” as well as on cultural festivals.
She was hired from among nearly 100 applicants after an extensive search that included rounds of Zoom interviews and a campus visit to meet the search committee of Court board members and U. of C. trustees.
Hoffman said she was eager to apply because of her fit with the theater’s priorities and the possibilities for its future.
“Like the ancient Greeks, I believe theater belongs at the center of civic life, with the transformative power to illuminate human nature, challenge assumptions and inspire resilience,” she said. “I’m excited to build on the legacy of my predecessors … and to collaborate with Court and university leadership, staff and faculty to re-imagine how we understand and stage the classics.”
Hoffman will work closely with Executive Director Angel Ysaguirre, who was very involved in her selection. He said she was chosen for several reasons.
“She has a vision for what classic theater can be and the ways it can matter to contemporary audiences, a national and international artistic network and experience engaging the community,” Ysaguirre said. He added that her management style also appealed to the trustees.
For university Provost Katherine Baicker, who led the search, Hoffman was the clear choice.
“Avery brings an extraordinary breadth of experience and a deep commitment to the transformative power of theater,” Baicker said. “Her vision and leadership will build on Court Theatre’s tradition of excellence while opening new pathways for artistic innovation, interdisciplinary collaboration and community engagement.”
Although eager to get started, Hoffman also was happy to have a little breathing space.
“The current season had already been announced and is underway, so I have time to get to know Angel, to get a sense of Charlie’s way, to go into the archives and discover where Court has been,” she said. “Then we’ll be thinking through strategies going forward, planning the 2026-2027 season, looking toward the 75th anniversary, though I want to dig into production before planning two or three seasons in advance.”
Other items on Hoffman’s agenda range from conversations with director Ron OJ Parson about completing the August Wilson cycle to trying to define what a classic is and creating a new model for that.
“I’m also interested in how we support new classics, especially by American playwrights, that can go to other places like New York and in bringing new artists and other disciplines to theater, as well as the educational component and different perspectives on collaboration,” she said.
Engaging more with the South Side community is on her list as well, and not surprisingly, it goes on and on.
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