Arts

The Rep hires theater director Kate Bergstrom as its new artistic leader

St. Louis Public Radio | By Jeremy D. Goodwin

Published April 23, 2024 at 5:00 AM CDT

New Artistic Director Kate Bergstrom and Managing Director Danny Williams stand outside Webster University's Loretto-Hilton Center for the Performing Arts, where the Repertory Theatre of St. Louis performs its mainstage productions.

New York-based theater director Kate Bergstrom will become artistic director of the Repertory Theater of St. Louis next month.

The Rep announced Bergstrom’s appointment Tuesday, 11 months after previous artistic director Hana Sharif left to lead Arena Stage in Washington, D.C.

Bergstrom has a long track record of developing new plays, including as founding artistic director of On the Verge, a California theater company dedicated to producing works by female and LGBTQ writers.

“When I think about the Rep, I think about how it really galvanizes world-class theater for and by its beloved St. Louis community, when it’s at its best. My vision for the Rep moving forward is to prioritize excellent, relevant and experience-driven theatrical storytelling,” Bergstrom said. “That bridges the differences that make us each unique and united us all, through generations and through different viewpoints.”

A prolific theater director who has worked all over the U.S., Bergstrom has helmed or developed many new plays, musicals and operas. Bergstrom taught or served as a resident artist at Rhode Island School of Design, New York University, UCLA and other schools. Bergstrom, who identifies as non-binary, also has worked as a consultant and trainer on diversity, equity, inclusion and ableism.

Kate Bergstrom has a long track record of developing new works.

Bergstrom’s artistic interests are not limited to the stage: They have also programmed a film festival, developed and hosted two podcasts and performs on harp with the experimental quartet h0t club.

“Kate’s knack for bringing people together is really amazing. It’s about bringing people together and finding what unites us,” said Danny Williams, the Rep’s managing director. “In St. Louis and the country, we’re going through a lot of moments that are divisive and scary. One thing we all know and love is the power of theater, and how entertainment really can find commonality amongst a lot of differences.”

Bergstrom directed the comedic thriller “The 39 Steps” at The Rep in 2022. They returned last year to direct “It’s A Wonderful Life – A Live Radio Play” on short notice, after the company canceled a more lavish adaptation of Charles Dickens’ “A Christmas Carol” due to a budget shortfall.

The financial crisis also cued Rally for the Rep, an emergency fundraising campaign that has raised more than $2 million to keep the theater company running.

Williams and Bergstrom plan to begin a series of private meetings with theater subscribers, donors and other stakeholders to help map out The Rep’s long-term future.

“What’s really important to us in this next phase of The Rep is to really center the St. Louis part of things, and to really embrace that we are now a new organization with new leadership and we are now going into this next phase, which we hope is a really artistically vibrant and financially stable one,” Williams said.

Bergstrom will be the Rep’s eighth artistic director since its 1966 founding. Theater leaders have already announced a four-show 2024-25 season, opening with the suspenseful drama “Dial M for Murder” in September.