Rob Brookman quits STC
FIRST ON AUSSIETHEATRE.COM
The respected Rob Brookman has announced his shock departure from the Sydney Theatre Company, confirming that he will leave his post in May of next year.
The well-liked Brookman is the company’s longest serving General Manager and has long been seen as the glue that keeps the company strong.
“Deciding to leave Sydney Theatre Company has been an enormously difficult decision,” Brookman said today.
“The years that I have spent with the Company have been some of the most challenging and fulfilling of my life. When I joined the Company in 1999, I never thought for a minute that I would stay for a decade because a job such as this is one that both stimulates and burns you up in equal measure. While my passion for the Company is undiminished, I know that the right time to jump off this particular locomotive is while my energies are still high.”
Brookman had informed new Artistic Directors Andrew Upton and Cate Blanchett that he would fully see their transition into the leaders of the company before considering departing.
“With arguably the strongest season STC has ever mounted now announced for 2010, a financial result that should see the Company well back in the black in 2009, a stable and strong network of support from Government, corporate partners and philanthropic donors and a highly talented and committed staff, I am proud of the great shape that the Company is in,” Brookman said.
“It remains to now support the process of recruitment for the next generation of management for the Company and to then assist in the transition when the right person is identified.”
Brookman was originally recruited by former Artistic Director Robyn Nevin and Chairman Mark Burrows and joined the Company in June
1999.
He has overseen an extraordinary period of growth and development in all areas. Working in partnership first with Robyn Nevin and then with Cate Blanchett and Andrew Upton, he played a key leadership role in the development and opening of the 900-seat Sydney Theatre, the establishment of Australia’s only full-time ensemble of actors (the STC Actors Company and The Residents), the expansion of the Education and thriving artform development programs, the development of international touring, significant infrastructure upgrades at the Wharf, and the $5.8 million Greening of the Wharf project.
A long search for a replacement now begins.
