The Coca-Cola stage at the Alliance Theatre. (Photo by Leonid Furmansky)
On August 1, Brandon Kahn begins working as the new managing director of the Alliance Theatre, replacing longtime leader Mike Schleifer, who left after 11 years to become the next managing director of Lincoln Center Theater.
In a recent Zoom interview, Kahn spoke about his enthusiasm for the new job at Atlanta’s Tony award-winning professional theater.
“The key is that we want to build upon what has been established at the Alliance,” he said. “You want to honor the history and the work that everybody has done for the years prior to us to really make the company what it is. The Alliance is known as a leader in the regional theater world. People look to it not just for the shows that are programmed, like the Broadway-bound shows, but also for the Theater for Young Audiences programming, for its education program and for the community outreach the company’s doing.”
In leading the Alliance, Kahn joins Artistic Directors Tinashe Kajese-Bolden and Christopher Moses, who filled their posts in 2023.
More on ArtsATL: Moses, Kajese-Bolden reflect on “doubled possibilities” in Alliance leadership roles
In a joint statement, Kajese-Bolden and Moses said they cannot wait to welcome Kahn to Atlanta.
“He brings not only a depth of professional experience to the job but a genuine and enthusiastic belief in our particular mission and community,” they said. “His expertise and aspirational outlook are the perfect match for the Alliance and this city as we continue to imagine bold new ways to grow our impact both here at home and on the national stage.”
Kahn will relocate to Atlanta from Houston, where he has served as general manager of Alley Theatre since 2018. Prior to that, he worked in managerial positions for six seasons at the Williamstown Theatre Festival in Massachusetts. He has also worked as a freelance stage manager for 10 years in New York, working on five Broadway shows and six Off-Broadway shows. He holds a master’s degree in Theater Management & Producing from Columbia University.
Kahn said his work at Alley Theatre provided him with a lot of valuable experience overseeing a large operation, which he’ll bring to the new job.
“The Alley is similar in size and scale to the Alliance,” he said. “We produce 11 shows a year, do A Christmas Carol and have a very similar structure. And a lot of it depends upon the people– building relationships and getting to know the community here. I was able to put in innovative and effective systems.”
Implementing new ways of functioning at the Alley helped it thrive, particularly after the COVID-19 pandemic.
“I think systems really create the culture of a space,” he said. “The Alley faced some challenges, and we were able to make some great, great moves, set up new systems and do some innovative work.”
He added that he wants to build upon what has been established at the Alliance, allowing for growth into a financially sustainable model that will thrive for years. His first major undertaking will be the January opening of the new Goizueta Stage for Youth & Families on the campus at the Woodruff Arts Center, a renovation of the space formerly known as the Rich Auditorium.
“I look forward to being able to open this space and to dream with Chris and Tinashe about what it will become over the years,” he said. “The overall goal is making theater a birthright for the people of Atlanta so that everybody can experience something on our stages. The space is just going to allow us to do so much wonderful work for young people and family audiences. And they will become theater lovers over time, carrying that feeling whether they stay in Atlanta or go somewhere else.”
Kahn is excited to bring his own family to Atlanta. He and his wife Jennifer have two sons, Hudson and Judah.
“I find it to be so special that I can bring my family to see shows at the theater where I work,” he said. “That was one of the things we talked to them about — that they’re going to be able to see more shows than just A Christmas Carol at my work.”
The 2025 Tony winner for Best Musical, Maybe Happy Ending, premiered at the Alliance in 2020, one of 11 Alliance shows to have eventually gone to Broadway. Being a part of that legacy is thrilling to Kahn, yet the regional impact of the space is also important to him. He currently serves on the board and as secretary for the League of Resident Theatres, a collective bargaining association of more than 70 regional nonprofit theater organizations.
Another aspect of the new job that appeals to him is being able to coordinate with the other organizations on the Woodruff campus: the High Museum of Art and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra.
“It’s a very unique model,” he said. “I’m really excited to look at the benefits of being in a multi-arts campus and to see how that cross-collaboration really works. It’s a really, really great model that could be helpful in showing how other arts organizations might do it in the future around the country.”
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Benjamin Carr is an ArtsATL editor-at-large who has contributed to the publication since 2019 and is a member of the American Theatre Critics Association, the Dramatists Guild, the Atlanta Press Club and the Horror Writers Association. His writing has been featured in podcasts for iHeartMedia, onstage as part of the Samuel French Off-Off Broadway Short Play Festival and online in The Guardian. His debut novel, Impacted, was published by The Story Plant.
