St. Louis native Jacqueline Thompson named artistic director for Metro Theater Company

Metro Theater Company has selected as its next artistic director Jaqueline Thompson, an accomplished director and actress who aims to help promising artists.

She’ll succeed Julia Flood, who took over the theater 10 years ago in July.

Thompson, who teaches acting at the University of Missouri-St. Louis, has worked with local theater companies, directing productions of “Ghost,” “Games Dad Didn’t Play” and “Last Stop on Market Street” for Metro Theater.

She directed “Death of a Salesman” for the Black Rep last year. She also played Regan in “King Lear” for the St. Louis Shakespeare Festival in 2021.

Thompson said she plans to work further with St. Louis-based artists for future productions, including actors and playwrights who haven’t had the opportunity to get their works onstage.

“I want to find those new stories, those stories that separate people but also have that humanistic commonality that draws them all together,” Thompson said.

Thompson joins a group of Black women artistic directors who have helmed prominent theater organizations across the country. Nataki Garrett was artistic director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival from 2019 to 2023. In St. Louis, Hana Sharif became artistic director for the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis in 2018 before being named artistic director for the Tony Award-winning Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., last year.

Metro Theater Company appointed Jessie Youngblood as managing director. Thompson said the underrepresentation of women in theater leadership pushed her to consider an artistic director position years ago.

“I'm looking at these numbers, and they were not, you know, I didn't see any [women],” Thompson said. “I knew that that was a long-term goal, I knew that that was something that I wanted to do, I wanted to be able to create seasons, I want to be able to create new works and projects, specifically in St. Louis, that celebrate St. Louis.”

Flood said the board and hiring committee selected Thompson from a pool of more than 40 qualified applicants.

Thompson has a deep knowledge and ties to the region’s theater scene during a time when live theater continues to change, Flood said.

“The way people do theater now is not perhaps the way they've done it in the past,” Flood said. “I think being creative and adaptive and flexible, those considerations were brought to the fore.”

Flood helped Metro Theater produce virtual events at the start of the coronavirus pandemic when theaters closed their doors to prevent the virus from spreading. She said federal funds helped keep the theater afloat early in the pandemic.

But live theater continues to face challenges, prompting the theater to pare down, eliminate two positions, reduce its producing footprint and figure out what productions can tour for a couple of weeks before playing at a theater for a couple weeks, Flood said.

“As we learn these things, I think we will expand some more and we will do more,” Flood said. “But we are really trying to lean into the things that we do very well that maybe no one else is doing, and that includes a real commitment to developing new work and to reaching kids where they are and to supporting teachers and families.”

The theater company has focused on programs to help people of color have greater access to playwriting.

Thompson said she wants to continue the work of Metro Theater and continue its service to young theatergoers and actors.

“I think you need to bring a heart, I think you need to bring innovation. I think you need to bring creativity, imagination, what I want to bring is a lot of joy,” Thompson said. “And it's our duty and responsibility to tell the truth. And you know, the truth can be told in the most beautiful, sometimes tragically beautiful ways, but I think that's important.”