Theater J

Our People

two women on stage in a performance

Leadership

Artistic Director – Hayley Finn

Hayley Finn is an accomplished director and producer with over twenty-five years of experience in professional theatre across all aspects of the profession, including producing, directing, casting, education, fundraising, and has been instrumental in creating national partnerships for theatres across the country. Prior to joining Theater J, she was the Associate Artistic Director at the Playwrights’ Center, where she worked with some of the nation’s leading playwrights and, in her tenure, produced over 1,000 workshops. She also served as a Co-Artistic Director of Red Eye Theater from 2019-2023 where she co-produced and curated the New Works 4 Weeks Festival—an annual four-week festival that commissions 11 artists each year to make new performance works—and co-led the fundraising and development of a new 150-seat black box theater in Minneapolis. She has directed nationally and internationally, including at Cherry Lane Theatre (New York, NY), Curious Theatre Company (Denver, CO), the Edinburgh Fringe Festival (Edinburgh, Scotland), Ellis Island (New York), Guthrie Theatre (Minneapolis, MN), HERE Arts Center (New York, NY), History Theatre (St. Paul, MN), Flea Theater (New York, NY), The Kitchen (New York, NY), LAByrinth Theater Company (New York, NY), Marin Theater Company (Mill Valley, CA), New Dramatists (New York, NY), O’Neill Theater Center (Waterford, CT), Pillsbury House (Minneapolis, MN), People’s Light (Malvern, PA), Public Theater (New York, NY), Playwrights’ Horizons (New York, NY), Red Eye Theater (Minneapolis, MN), Six Points Theater (St. Paul, MN), South Coast Repertory Theater (Costa Mesa, CA), and the Nine Gates Festival in Prague. Finn was Assistant Director on several Broadway productions, including the Tony Award winning production of Arthur Miller’s A View from the Bridge. Finn is an Alumna of the Drama League Director’s Program, recipient of the Ruth Easton Fellowship, TCG Future Leader Grant, National Endowment for the Arts support, and a Minnesota State Arts Board Artist Initiative Grant. She received her BA and MA from Brown University.


Managing Director – David Lloyd Olson

David Lloyd Olson made his stage debut at age five at the Marcus JCC of Atlanta preschool and is now proud to be one of the leaders of the nation’s largest professional Jewish theater. He most recently served as managing director of Quintessence Theatre Group in Philadelphia where he oversaw the organization’s largest ever fundraising campaign and the doubling of their annual foundation support. He was manager of the executive office and board engagement at the Shakespeare Theatre Company where he supported the transition of the theater’s artistic directorship from Michael Kahn to Simon Godwin. He has also held positions at Arena Stage, GALA Hispanic Theatre, the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, and Pointless Theatre. He was an Allen Lee Hughes management fellow at Arena Stage, a Fulbright English teaching assistant in Valmiera, Latvia, and the recipient of two DC Commission on Arts and Humanities Fellowship program grants. He proudly serves on the board of the Alliance for Jewish Theatre (alljewishtheatre.org) and the board of Adas Israel Congregation.

Staff

Arts Marketing Manager – Jill Gershenson
Education Programs Manager – Hester Kamin
Director of Donor Engagement – Emma Wesslund
Development Associate – Madeline Usdan

Technical Director – Thomas Howley
Technical Coordinator – Willow McFatter
Patron Experiences Manager – Julia Rabson Harris
Ticket Office Manager – Nino Porter

Council

Chair – Daniel Kaplan
Mara Bralove
Cheryl Gorelick
Aimee Imundo
Karen Lehman
Howard Menaker
Pat Payne
Robert Schlossberg
Manny Strauss

Chair – Bella Rosenberg
Mindy Gasthalter
Rae Grad
Liz Kleinrock
Ellen Malasky
Alfred Munzer
Saul Pilchen
Terry Singer
Bob Tracy


Ann Gilbert
Patti Herman
Steve Lachet
Meredith Margolis
Sherry Nevins
Mita M. Schaffer
Stuart Sotsky
Kathryn Veal

Honorary Council

Marion Ein Lewin
Lois Fingerhut
Patti Sowalsky
George Vradenburg

Michele G. Berman
Paul J. Mason
Joan S. Wessel

Bunny Dwin
Evelyn Sandground
Irene Wurtzel

full theater during production.

Support Theater J

As the nation’s largest and most prominent Jewish theater, we aim to preserve and expand a rich Jewish theatrical tradition and to create community and commonality through theater-going experiences. Join us in our mission today.