Gustavo Ott, the celebrated Venezuelan playwright who will succeed GALA Hispanic Theatre‘s visionary artistic director Hugo Medrano, counted the late theater director among his mentors, he said as he introduced himself to the Washington theater scene Monday.

Ott, 60, a playwright, translator, and theater director will take the helm at GALA in January — and has big shoes to fill. Medrano co-founded GALA with his wife Rebecca and ran it for nearly half a century, establishing it as a powerhouse theater company despite its small size, until he passed away in May.

Ott outlined his vision in an event at GALA attended by members of the press, leaders of local arts nonprofits, and cultural representatives from the embassies of Nicaragua, Spain, and Cuba. Originally from Venezuela, Ott founded and directed Teatro San Martín and Fiesta: International Theatre Festival in Caracas, Venezuela. Most recently, he served as executive artistic director for Teatro Dallas in Texas.

Ott has written over 50 plays and says he’s known the Medranos and worked with GALA since the early 1990s. The theater in Columbia Heights produced his Helen Hayes Award-nominated musical The Return of Eva Perón: Momia en el clóset in 2009. GALA will produce the musical again in May 2024.

Ott described Hugo Medrano as a mentor.  “I know that I am here to build upon his vision,” he said at the event Monday.

Ott says he’s always been impressed by GALA’s bilingual programs for students, particularly Paso Nuevo, a free theater education program for high schoolers, and the GALito student matinees.

GALA’s musicals and classical theater programming outmatch any in the world, he says.

“We’re being allowed to see the best of the golden age in our language — the best theater of the world, produced with the highest quality possible, on the same level as Madrid, Ciudad de México, or Buenos Aires, and we have the privilege to see it here,” Ott says. “The most important part of our cultural heritage is in this theater.”

Ott says he’ll attempt to make “more links” with D.C. performing artists and build GALA’s reputation, not just as a national and global performing arts center, but also as a neighborhood theater.

His first order of business will be assessing GALA’s budget and leading the theater through the completion of its current season. But his eye is already on next season — Ott says he’s already received three original plays from local and national writers for consideration.

Rebecca Medrano, GALA’s executive director, says that one immediate change will be around finances. She’s been a vocal advocate for more funding for the arts organizations. Her late husband was less interested in budgetary issues, she says.

“Hugo detested budgeting,” Medrano says of her late husband. “Gustavo piped up [during his interview] and said, ‘I love budgeting.'”

Monday’s press event marked a “very emotional day for me,” Medrano said. Six months ago, GALA won nine Helen Hayes Awards for its Spanish-language musical On Your Feet, just hours after it announced the news of Hugo’s passing.

“[Ott] really is the person who we believe will carry on this legacy of Hugo’s and carry us forward with change as we prepare for our 50th anniversary,” says Medrano, “and keep our vision and mission alive, which is forever important and reflects our changing community.”