Cornerstone Theater Company Appoints Charlotte Brathwaite and Sunder Ganglani as Co-Artistic Directors
Tom O’Connor Consulting Group (TOCG) is pleased to announce that Charlotte Brathwaite and Sunder Ganglani have been appointed Co-Artistic Directors by Cornerstone Theater Company (Megan Wanlass, Managing Director) in Los Angeles, California, following our extensive national search.
As shared in a release from the company, after long-time collaborators Charlotte Brathwaite and Sunder Ganglani applied together to lead the organization, Cornerstone welcomed the opportunity to adopt a co-leadership model as an invitation for a new collaborative artistic process. They will be joining Managing Director Megan Wanlass in a leadership triumvirate. Cornerstone's Ensemble structure is an intentional shared decision-making model, albeit not in all areas of responsibility. Charlotte and Sunder's team application demonstrated their dedication to creative collaboration and desire to engage complex communication.
In the company’s statement, Cornerstone’s incoming Co-Artistic Directors, Charlotte Brathwaite and Sunder Ganglani shared, “We’re honored to be invited to join the Cornerstone community and excited to map its future. Cornerstone asks questions that shouldn’t be so radical but they are – what do we make when we really know each other, when our artforms are modes of care not commerce, when we put ourselves on the line and consent to being transformed by what we don’t understand? These questions are still radical and necessary to ask, and answer again and again - over and over again in as many ways as possible – right now, in real time. For over a decade, the center of our creative partnership has been asking questions that challenge understanding – of ourselves as human beings and the world at large. This work creates new worlds from collective inquiry, it dissolves boundaries of form and genre, and like Cornerstone’s work, it opens new ways of knowing each other. We’re filled with gratitude to find an institutional home at Cornerstone, to keep going, to question, to listen, to transform and be transformed, to imagine on beautiful and exciting terms our common liberation by rehearsing the worlds we imagine and making them real.”
Shared from the company’s statement, “On behalf of the Search Community, composed of Cornerstone Board, staff, ensemble, and community members, we are proud and excited to welcome Charlotte and Sunder to the company”, says Board member, Mark Valdez. “These are two artists of great talent and generosity who will lead us into a new epoch of community engaged art-making. As only the third Artistic Directors in our 37-year history, this represents a milestone moment for us, and we couldn’t be happier to enter this new era with these two wonderful humans.”
“I was thrilled when Cornerstone Theater Company invited us to partner with them on this important search,” said Cynthia Fuhrman, who led the TOCG team on this search. “Cornerstone is a storied company, filling a unique place in the landscape of the American theatre with their authentic commitment to collaboration and community. Supporting them on this journey to find only their third artistic leadership in their history, and to be invited into deep conversation with open and adventurous minds was a joy. I can’t wait to see what Charlotte and Sunder and the Cornerstone company create together.”
About Cornerstone Theater Company
Cornerstone is a non-profit leader in community engaged theater. The plays are staged in traditional and non-traditional performance spaces, but always in a location significant and accessible to the collaborating communities: factories, schools, community centers, service organizations, or adjacent to sacred land. Cornerstone strives to include people, in the audience and in the plays, who have never been on stage or may have never seen theater; the plays celebrate many voices.
Cornerstone’s history directly shapes who it is and how it works in the community today. Founded in 1986 as a traveling ensemble working nationwide, primarily in rural communities, the company performed in different towns and states with each production. Since 1992, Cornerstone has been based in Los Angeles, focusing largely on urban collaborations. However, it still continues to travel to many different regions throughout the state of California and beyond. A philosophy of radical audience renewal, adding new communities on every production while maintaining relationships with previous collaborators, is central to CTC’s organizational strategy. The company cooperates artistically in a diverse range of underserved areas, from rural California communities like Lost Hills and Holtville, to urban neighborhoods like Pacoima, the Los Angeles Arts District, Watts and East Salinas.
About Tom O’Connor Consulting Group
Tom O’Connor Consulting Group (TOCG) is a NYC-based consultancy that supports arts institutions and leaders with two integrated services: organizational strategy and executive search. Consulting specialties including marketing, strategy, assessment, and organizational development. Founded in 2015, TOCG is a fully remote company with team members spanning the country and the globe.
Select clients have included Brooklyn Academy of Music (BAM), Carnegie Hall, Cincinnati Opera, Huntington Theatre Company, Lincoln Center Theater, The Metropolitan Opera, Next Chapter Podcasts, Segerstrom Center for the Arts, SPACE on Ryder Farm, Woolly Mammoth Theatre, and more.
Explore our site to learn more about Our Services, Our Team, and Our Clients. Sign up for email alerts of future searches.