Rebecca Ende Lichtenberg has been named Shakespeare Theatre Company’s new executive director, replacing Chris Jennings, who spent 19 years at the helm before leaving for the Manhattan Theatre Club last summer. Her first day will be Feb. 19, 2024.

Shakespeare Theatre Company (STC) chose Ende Lichtenberg after a five-month nationwide search for a new chief executive. Berkeley Repertory’s Susie Medak has acted as the interim executive director throughout the search.

Ende Lichtenberg comes to the downtown D.C. theater organization from less than two miles away — she’s been at Studio Theatre on 14th Street since 2018, first as managing director and more recently as executive director. She says she’s been attending STC’s productions since 2007 as a fan and now she’s excited to begin a host of ambitious projects with Simon Godwin, who’s been the artistic director at Shakespeare since 2019.

“This is a particularly exciting moment for the company,” Ende Lichtenberg tells DCist/WAMU. “Simon Godwin is, of course, still relatively new in his tenure as artistic director. And I think he’s doing incredibly exciting things to redefine what it means to be a classic theater company and to broaden the audiences that the theater is relevant to.”

Ende Lichtenberg says she’s loved her tenure at Studio Theatre, but she’s particularly excited to join STC as it grows its national and international reputation.

Godwin, for example, is currently directing the Shakespeare classic, Macbeth, on a three-city tour in the UK before he brings it to D.C. But instead of bringing it to one of STC’s two main venues — Harman Hall on F Street NW or the Klein Theatre on 7th Street NW, the theater company is trying something brand new: staging it off-site. Macbeth, starring Ralph Fiennes (Harry Potter) and Indira Varma (Game of Thrones) will take place at 1301 W St. NE, a former BET Studios stage in the Brentwood neighborhood.

Ende Lichtenberg’s shift from Studio Theatre, known for its bold, contemporary plays, to Shakespeare Theatre, popular for its modern takes on classics, could be a dramatic one for Ende Lichtenberg. However, she says she was drawn to STC because of its debuts of new shows over the years, as well as titles outside of the English bard’s canon, such as The Amen Corner; Here There Are Blueberries.

“My career has mostly been at theaters with an emphasis on new plays and working with living playwrights, but some of the most exciting work I’ve seen at Shakespeare Theatre has really been new plays,” says Ende Lichtenberg. She says she’ll focus on producing shows that are “epic on the scale of a Shakespearean play that isn’t necessarily from Shakespeare or what you would traditionally consider a classic.”

She’s also coming into STC with some inside knowledge. Her husband, Drew Lichtenberg, is a dramaturg and associate director on STC’s artistic team who’s also releasing a book on the company’s history — one which Ende Lichtenberg helped proofread.

Once she starts the new job, her first priorities include meeting with all the staffers and board members, and making plans for next season’s budget and “real estate issues that need resolution,” she says.

Ende Lichtenberg has led multiple D.C. arts organizations through major transitions.

Before Studio Theatre, she spent seven years as managing director at Theater J on 16th Street NW, one of the nation’s leading producers of plays examining Jewish history and culture. She oversaw the theater’s financial growth and programming following a controversial leadership change — its longtime artistic director Ari Roth had been fired a few years prior. Before taking over as director, she handled Theater J’s marketing and communications. Earlier in her career, she ran communications for the Sitar Arts Center in D.C.

While at Studio Theatre, she oversaw the company’s $20 million capital campaign and renovation project. That theater will now begin a national search to find a new executive director, according to Studio Artistic Director David Muse.

“All of us here at Studio are pleased for her, and for Shakespeare Theatre Company — my old stomping grounds! They are lucky to have her,” Muse wrote.

Shakespeare Theatre has gone through interesting transitions over the past few years as well. The company’s stagehands unionized in June of 2022. During the pandemic, Godwin launched a number of unusual projects to keep audiences engaged — such as a dystopian sound installation and a social media callout for performers to participate in the #ShakespeareChallenge.

STC says its subscription numbers have returned to pre-pandemic levels following a string of successful productions, including the Godwin-directed King Lear — which The Washington Post’s Peter Marks called “one of the best versions of the tragedy” he’d ever seen.

Ende Lichtenberg hopes to continue the spirit of collaboration that’s so prevalent in D.C.’s theater scene. (STC has been known to put on shows with other companies, such as The Jungle, which it produced alongside Woolly Mammoth Theatre earlier this year.)

“I’m fortunate that I’m stepping into a role where I already have relationships with all the other theaters in town,” she adds.