Hana Sharif out as Artistic Director at Arena Stage — Page 2

Nataki Garrett bungled her tenure at OSF so badly that she basically made herself unemployable and had to rebrand herself as an executive coach. (Sharif is one of her clients, prominently featured on her website — natch.) She did experience genuine racism during her time in Ashland, but that doesn’t obscure the fact she was woefully unqualified for her position and likely would have been relieved of her duties had she tried to stay. She really is the last person who should be weighing in on this situation as she has less than zero credibility in this area, not to mention deep conflicts of interest.

Updated On: 7/2/26 at 05:59 PM

Ensemble1698878795 said: "AC126748 said: "Nataki Garrett bungled her tenure at OSF so badly that she basically made herself unemployable and had to rebrand herself as an executive coach. (Sharif is one of her clients, prominently featured on her website — natch.) She did experience genuine racism during her time in Ashland, but that doesn’t obscure the fact she was woefully unqualified for her position and likely would have been relieved of her duties had she tried to stay. She really is the last person who should be weighing in on this situation as she has less than zero credibility in this area, not to mention deep conflicts of interest."

Experiencingracism while running non-profit theatre is something white people don't have to deal with. I love how you causally move on past that as if that's a small thing to overcome. What made her unqualified? Can you be more specific?"

She literally almost ran the organization out of existence, requiring an emergency financial campaign after leaving the company weeks away from insolvency. She was on the verge of being fired when she resigned in 2023. 

Updated On: 7/2/26 at 06:20 PM

Arena Stage board of trustees

AC126748 said: "Ensemble1698878795 said: "AC126748 said: "Nataki Garrett bungled her tenure at OSF so badly that she basically made herself unemployable and had to rebrand herself as an executive coach. (Sharif is one of her clients, prominently featured on her website — natch.) She did experience genuine racism during her time in Ashland, but that doesn’t obscure the fact she was woefully unqualified for her position and likely would have been relieved of her duties had she tried to stay. She really is the last person who should be weighing in on this situation as she has less than zero credibility in this area, not to mention deep conflicts of interest."

Experiencingracism while running non-profit theatre is something white people don't have to deal with. I love how you causally move on past that as if that's a small thing to overcome. What made her unqualified? Can you be more specific?"

She literally almost ran the organization out of existence, requiring an emergency financial campaign after leaving the company weeks away from insolvency. She was on the verge of being fired when she resigned in 2023."

So whose fault is it that Arena Stage hired her? Is it her own? Also when Black AD's are handed organizations they are usually already failing. I'm not saying she's perfect. But I think you all need to acknowledge that there's been an historic lack of Black people let alone Black women in these positions. It's not because they are incapable. It's mostly because they aren't wanted. 

Part of a AD's success is the support they are given and when boards push Black women out they never had a chance to thrive. 

Arena was quite successful and thriving when Molly Smith left.  She made the choice to retire - this made it even MORE clear the culprit.   Under Sharif - Like in St. Louis the numbers declined rapidly, seasons were not planned properly and delayed, money was not spent appropriately, the staff was unhappy, production elements and timetables not met.   Arena  declined,  in all aspects,  very rapidly - and the reason is clear.

Much was not disclosed to Arena stage when they hired Sharif while she was still the artistic director of St. Louis Rep. She left the Rep, for Arena, for a reason.  Arena hired Sarif while she was still the artistic director or the Rep.  Much was being learned and not able to be disclosed it sounds like.

Updated On: 7/3/26 at 12:18 AM

Ensemble1698878795 said:So whose fault is it that Arena Stage hired her? Is it her own? Also when Black AD's are handed organizations they are usually already failing. I'm not saying she's perfect. But I think you all need to acknowledge that there's been an historic lack of Black people let alone Black women in these positions. It's not because they are incapable. It's mostly because they aren't wanted. 

There seems to be some confusion so just to straighten out the thread a bit:

Hana Sharif is the now former Artistic Director at Arena Stage.

Nataki Garrett is someone who wrote a defense of Sharif. Garrett is the former Artistic Director of the Oregon Shakespeare Festival. She is not the one who was hired by, and now is no longer with, Arena Stage.

AC126748 was saying Garrett really isn't one to talk about Sharif's situation given the state of OSF when she (Garrett) left and was discussing the details of that.

Other posters are now saying that Sharif, who is now out at Arena Stage, had issues when she was at her previous post at The Repertory Theatre of St. Louis.

They're two different people and set of circumstances that have become a bit jumbled in the thread.

 

 

Updated On: 7/3/26 at 10:35 AM

I have family in St. Louis and spend a fair amount of time there.   I saw several shows at The St. Louis Repertory Theater while Hana was in charge and they were all embarrassing.  It was kind of shocking out amateurish it was.   The whole family dressed up for the absolute worst "Christmas Carol" I have ever seen -- how do you screw up Christmas Carol?  I also remember a "Side By Side By Sondheim" ( with Amy Spanger) that I walked out of, and several audience members were with me.   It was worse than a community theater production.   My family there all used to subscribe but they dropped it because they all said it had gotten bad.  Not sure how it's doing now.  They don't talk about it or go anymore. 

DC Theatre Arts - "At Arena Stage, Artists and Staff Describe a Workplace in Crisis"

dctheaterarts.org/2026/07/05/at-arena-stage-artists-and-staff-describe-a-workplace-in-crisis/

I spit out my water when I read that statement. Was he trying to come off as less than bright? 

https://www.notus.org/metro/arena-stage-dc-hana-sharif

Zero question that white men (and women, though that gets more complicated) have routinely made employees cry and not been called out for it.

That said, that doesn't mean it's ok. imho

White directed that horrible "Side By Side" I mentioned earlier...They've been close associates for a time it appears, so it makes sense he would defend her. 

 

https://poplifestl.com/icon-deserves-better-than-the-reps-miscast-side-by-side-by-sondheim/

I feel bad for all the staff over there. It's not like her behavior was illegal, but it obviously created an unhappy environment that nobody was prepared for - and though that behavior is not exclusive to her, it's up to the Board to decide what they're willing to tolerate. It underlines the importance of a system of checks-and-balances provided by a compassionate Board and a dual-leadership structure (in this case, longtime president/EP Edgar Dobie). There will be conversations about what they knew, what they did, and what they didn't do, but that's not very productive.

A change of senior leadership is very, very tough on staff, even with the most well-intentioned new leadership. I would love to read an article focused on staff who survived the recent leadership turnovers of some of our biggest theatre nonprofits. My hunch is that the happiest morale was at places like Playwrights Horizons and MTC, which elevated an insider who already knew the workplace culture. (It’s been much-shared that the LCT transition was not happy for some of the employees who straddled the old guard and the new, but that saw a change of almost its entire senior leadership team.)

It’s interesting that less than 3 months ago, Darren Johnston started in an “associate artistic director for commercial strategy and partnership” role, meant to focus on Enhancement deals and collaboration with commercial producers. Before that, he built up No Guarantees with Christine Schwartzman’s money.

Updated On: 7/8/26 at 02:30 PM

SeanD2 said: "Kad said: ""White acknowledged that he saw people leave meetings with Sharif in tears, but does not think it was right to blame her. “It’s not about her behavior; it’s about their ability to receive,” he told DCTA."

This is a wild statement. White does a remarkably terrible job of defending Sharif throughout this."

Based on all of White’s comments in this defending Sharif’s behavior I’m terrified for the future of Wooly Mammoth!"

Of course you’re concerned. Because when Black folks who don’t agree with the white majority are in places of power, they are usually forced out like Sharif. God forbid Reggie have a different experience of her, he’s something to be “concerned about.” This kind of commentary is exactly the mindset of these institutions. Sure you can lead, but don’t step too far out of line from our morals and vision. It’s so tired. So exhausting and so racist. But you folks actually don’t care. You like it this way.