Dobama names Nathan Motta as associate artistic director

Dobama Theatre's board of directors announced that Nathan Motta will join the company’s artistic staff on Aug. 1 as the second associate artistic director. In this new role, Motta will work alongside Dianne Boduszek, Dobama’s current associate artistic director, and Joel Hammer, artistic director. Hammer will continue to provide overall artistic guidance for the theatre and oversee the Mainstage productions.

Nathan Motta, who has been with Dobama since 2009, is the founder of the successful Dobama Emerging Actors Program (DEAP) and the Dobama Young Playwrights Competition. In addition, he produced the 34th-annual Marilyn Bianchi Kids’ Playwriting Festival this summer.

Motta is a professional director, conductor and composer/lyricist, who has worked with the Cleveland Play House (CPM), Opera Cleveland, Ohio Light Opera, Pittsburgh Symphony Orchestra, Mercury Opera Rochester (N.Y.), and Civic Light Opera (Pittsburgh), among others. He served as assistant director on the CPH’s productions of Brecht’s "Galilieo" (the inaugural CPH production in the Allen Theatre) and Tom Stoppard’s "Every Good Boy Deserves Favor," a collaboration with the Cleveland Orchestra.

Motta’s original musical, "Midsummer" (based on Shakespeare’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream), will premiere in October 2012. He holds a B.F.A. from Carnegie Mellon University and an M.M. from the Eastman School of Music.

The lineup for Dobama’s Mainstage 2012–13 season includes five Mainstage premieres. The first four plays are "The Motherf**ker with the Hat" by Stephen Adly Guirgis; "A Bright New Boise" by Samuel D. Hunter; "Sons of the Prophet" by Stephen Karam; and "4,000 Miles" by Amy Herzog. The season’s fifth play, to be directed by Nathan Motta, will be announced at a later date.

To learn more about the Dobama’s 2012–13 season, plan to attend the Season Preview and Donor Appreciation Party on Saturday, Aug. 11, at 6:30 p.m. Admission to the event is $5. For tickets to Dobama's Mainstage productions, call the box office at 216-932-3396.