O'Neill Theater Center Names Michael Cadman Interim Director Of National Theater Institute

May 18, 2006

Amy Sullivan, Executive Director of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, announced today the resignation of David B. Jaffe, Director of the O'Neill's National Theater Institute for the past eight years. Mr. Jaffe will remain at the O'Neill to launch a new summer training program, Theatermakers, until August 2006. Michael Cadman, who has been a resident senior faculty member of the National Theater Institute for the past twelve years, has been appointed Interim Director. Mr. Cadman will oversee all NTI programs while the O'Neill conducts a search for a permanent Director.

Ms. Sullivan said "David Jaffe has been instrumental in guiding the National Theater Institute and developing a strong program and faculty for its students. We honor his commitment to NTI for the past eight years, and will miss him, but we understand his desire to seek new challenges in his professional life."

Mr. Jaffe said, "I'm proud of NTI's accomplishments in nurturing and developing new voices and new artists for the theater during my years as Director. We have built a superb guest artist faculty and partnerships with important companies such as Theatre Complicite, The Wooster Group, SITI Company and the St. Petersburg Theatre Arts Academy in Russia. The NTI faculty and staff have created an environment where each student can have a transformative experience that cultivates his or her physical and creative self. NTI students leave the O'Neill with the skills and passion to succeed in their professional lives and a commitment to working collaboratively. We have actively formed ongoing relationships with our alumni, many of whom reunite at the O'Neill and elsewhere to develop new projects, or return as guest speakers and faculty. With this ongoing activity and opportunities to collaborate on their own work, our students have come to think of the O'Neill as their creative home."

Michael Cadman trained as an actor at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and was a founding member of the National Youth Theatre in the U.K. His wide range of work in British theatre spans more than thirty years and includes London West End productions, four years with the Royal Shakespeare Company, and seasons with the New Shakespeare Company, the Regents Park Theatre, and the Welsh National Theatre. He has many credits in film and television, including Masterpiece Theatre's Poldark. Mr. Cadman also writes for the theater; his projects have been produced in England and Germany.

"Michael Cadman has been an important NTI faculty member and mentor, teaching the core curriculum to students for more than a decade," said Ms. Sullivan. "He is greatly admired by his students and has a deep understanding of the mission and philosophy of NTI. Michael will bring great skills to the program and advance our international collaborations. This fall he will take our students to the RSC for its 100th anniversary season of Shakespeare's canon. We are delighted to welcome him to his new role as the leader of NTI."

The National Theater Institute, a program of the Eugene O'Neill Theater Center, was founded in 1970. NTI is a fully-accredited, conservatory-based theater training semester for college students, and is offered each fall and spring. NTI students follow a seven-day-a-week schedule of training with resident and guest faculty at the O'Neill Center. In addition to this rigorous schedule of conservatory classes led by leading theater professionals, students attend performances and meet with artists at New York and regional theaters. NTI also offers an accredited semester of study abroad at the Moscow Art Theater. Its summer program, Theatermakers, gives advanced students and recent graduates workshops and classes along with the opportunity to develop their own projects and participate as assistants to professional artists during the O'Neill's National Playwrights and National Music Theater Conferences. For more information, please visit the National Theater Institute website, www.theoneill.org/nti.