American Stage announces new Producing Artistic Director

American Stage has announced that Helen R. Murray has been hired as the theater’s new Producing Artist Director.

Murray, the outgoing Executive Director of the Aurora Fox Theatre in Aurora, Colorado, will take over from Rajendra Ramoon Maharaj, who left American Stage in April after just six months in the position.

A playwright and director, Murray also served as Artistic Director of the Hub Theatre in Virginia.

She will start the job in October.

“American Stage welcomed the artist that I am and the leader I always endeavor to be,” Murray said in a prepared statement. “I hope what I am bringing to St. Petersburg and American Stage audiences is a willingness to listen to what is happening in this community, the state, and the nation; and an invitation to our community to be both challenged and welcomed with our programming.”

Maharaj replaced longtime Producing Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte, who resigned citing health reasons, in 2021.