Paige Evans

Artistic Director

Signature Theatre has announced that Artistic Director Paige Evans will step down in June of 2024, having led the company since 2016, through the transition from Founder James Houghton and the Covid-19 pandemic. Paige produced eight seasons of award-winning shows and brought gifted writers to Signature for its distinctive residencies, including Melis Aker, Stephen Adly Guirgis, Samuel D. Hunter, Dave Malloy (Signature’s first musical theater writer), Dominique Morisseau, Lynn Nottage, Sarah Ruhl, Anna Deavere Smith, Lauren Yee and The Mad Ones. She also launched several new artistic programs, including an Education Program for high school and college students, SigSpace lobby programming, and the LaunchPad Residency for early career writers from historically underrepresented communities. Please join all of us here at Signature Theatre in thanking Paige for her service during her eight years of leadership.

Read the full press release here.

She leads the organization and programs and produces seasons that celebrate playwrights and their bodies of work. Under Paige’s direction, Signature has developed and premiered new plays by Annie Baker, Will Eno, Katori Hall, Quiara Alegria Hudes, Samuel D. Hunter, Branden Jacobs-Jenkins, Dave Malloy, Dominique Morisseau, Sarah Ruhl, and Lauren Yee. During her tenure, Signature artists and productions have received a Pulitzer Prize for Drama, a MacArthur “Genius” Award, Lortel, Obie, Drama Desk, AUDELCO, and Actors’ Equity Awards, as well as the 50/50 Award for Gender Parity in Theatre.

Before Signature, Paige was the inaugural Artistic Director of LCT3/Lincoln Center Theater. From its inception in 2008 until 2016, Paige programmed, developed and produced more than 20 world and New York premieres for LCT3, bringing new artists and new audiences to Lincoln Center Theater, including David Adjmi’s Stunning, Amy Herzog’s 4000 Miles (Pulitzer Prize Finalist, transferred to LCT’s Mitzi Newhouse Theater), Greg Pierce’s Slowgirl, Ayad Akhtar’s Disgraced (Pulitzer Prize for Drama, transferred to Broadway), the Rude Mech’s Stop Hitting Yourself, and Dave Malloy’s Preludes. Under Paige’s direction, LCT3 plays and productions – all priced affordably and presented to a wide audience – won the Pulitzer Prize as well as numerous Obie, Lortel, and AUDELCO Awards. Before LCT3, Paige was Associate Artistic Director at Manhattan Theatre Club (MTC). At MTC, she championed, commissioned and developed scores of new plays, including David Auburn’s Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize-winning play Proof, John Patrick Shanley’s Tony Award® and Pulitzer Prize-winning Doubt, Conor McPherson’s Shining City, Ayub Khan-Din’s East is East, Tarell Alvin McCraney’s Choir Boy, and David Harrower’s Blackbird. She grew up in New York City, lives in Brooklyn, and is a graduate of Harvard College.