Mara Isaacs

Founder, Executive/Creative Producer at Octopus Theatricals, LLC
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Contact Information
us****@****om
(386) 825-5501
Location
JE
Languages
  • Spanish -
Skills

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Credentials

  • IDI Qualified Administrator
    IDI, LLC
    Apr, 2022
    - Nov, 2024

Experience

  • Octopus Theatricals, LLC
    • United States
    • Entertainment
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Founder, Executive/Creative Producer
      • 2013 - Present

      Octopus Theatricals LLC is a company dedicated to producing and consulting in the performing arts. From experimental to commercial, we collaborate with artists and organizations to foster an expansive range of compelling theatrical works for local, national and international audiences. We eschew boundaries—aesthetic, geopolitical, institutional—and thrive on a nimble and rigorous practice. www.octopustheatricals.com Current projects include: Hadestown by Anaïs Mitchell, Iphigenia by Wayne Shorter and Esperanza Spalding, Dreaming Zenzile by Somi Kakoma, Theatre for One, And So We Walked by DeLanna Studi, An Iliad by Lisa Peterson and Denis O'Hare and many more. Select Consulting Clients: Native Voices at the Autry; Jerome Robbins Foundation (New York, NY); Baryshnikov Arts Center (New York, NY); Fiasco Theater (New York, NY); Princeton University (Princeton, NJ); The Wilma Theatre (Philadelphia, PA); Milwaukee Repertory Theatre (Milwaukee, WI).

  • Producer Hub
    • United States
    • Performing Arts
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Co-Founder
      • Jan 2019 - Present

      The Producer Hub is a connective space for independent producers, artists, producing/presenting organizations and other arts workers creating live performance. The Producer Hub is a connective space for independent producers, artists, producing/presenting organizations and other arts workers creating live performance.

  • California Institute of the Arts
    • United States
    • Higher Education
    • 400 - 500 Employee
    • Special Faculty, Theater
      • Sep 2015 - Present

      Create and lead a series of intensive residencies with MFA Producing students to explore the role of creative producing in the currently evolving theatrical landscape. Each residency is created in response to the particulars of the moment, using current productions as case studies of the myriad approaches to creative producing, with the goal of cultivating creative leadership and vision, a strong aesthetic point of view and practical problem solving skills among producers today. Create and lead a series of intensive residencies with MFA Producing students to explore the role of creative producing in the currently evolving theatrical landscape. Each residency is created in response to the particulars of the moment, using current productions as case studies of the myriad approaches to creative producing, with the goal of cultivating creative leadership and vision, a strong aesthetic point of view and practical problem solving skills among producers today.

  • Princeton University
    • United States
    • Higher Education
    • 700 & Above Employee
    • Visiting Faculty
      • Sep 2006 - Present

      Create and teach undergraduate seminars specializing in artistic aspects of theatrical producing, musical theater development and literary analysis.Courses include:The Art of Producing Theater (Fall 2006, Spring 2008, Spring 2012, Fall 2013, Fall 2018)Making Musicals: Creating, Developing and Producing new musical theater (Spring 2009)International Theater: Plays and Politics (Spring 2014)Making Documentary Theater (Spring 2015)

    • Executive Producer, Festival of the Arts October 5-8, 2017
      • May 2016 - Oct 2017

      This multi- day Festival of the Arts was curated and produced in celebration of the opening of Princeton’s new Lewis Center for the Arts complex, highlighting the breadth and uniqueness of the arts at Princeton. The Festival featured concerts, plays, readings, dance performances, art exhibitions, screenings, multidisciplinary presentations, community workshops and site-specific events presented by the Lewis Center for the Arts and the Department of Music with professional, faculty, student, and alumni artists.

  • McCarter Theatre Center
    • United States
    • Performing Arts
    • 1 - 100 Employee
    • Producing Director (2002-2013) / Resident Producer (1995-2002)
      • Sep 1995 - Jul 2013

      • Provide ongoing artistic leadership for McCarter’s theater programming including season planning, long range artistic goals and strategies, play development, artist cultivation, casting, design, and education programs, in partnership with Artistic Director. • Develop and oversee all new play development activity and budgets, including commissions, artist retreat, reading and workshop programs. • Identify and guide work of playwrights and directors, including ongoing dramaturgy and creating and implementing successful strategies for collaborations, development, production and future life of productions. • Develop and facilitate producing partnerships with theaters and individual producers; oversee transfers of productions to commercial and non-profit venues on Broadway, off-Broadway, with regional co-producers and internationally. • Advocate for artistic programs with corporate, foundation and private donors. Successfully create funding initiatives and written funding proposals. • Work closely with Managing Director, fusing artistic and financial interests in budget decisions and organizational policymaking.

  • Center Theatre Group
    • United States
    • Performing Arts
    • 100 - 200 Employee
    • Associate Producer/Project Coordinator
      • 1990 - 1995

      • Produced the Taper’s play development programming (including the New Work Festival), select main stage events, second stage (Taper, Too) and ancillary productions. • Produced adaptations of contemporary fiction for the Taper’s literary cabaret. • Provided ongoing artist development support and dramaturgy. • Developed collaborative producing relationships with outside arts and civic organizations. • Read and evaluated material for production consideration. • Developed and administered project budgets. Negotiated contract terms with playwrights and directors. Coordinated travel, lodging and per diem for all out of town participants.

Education

  • University of California, Berkeley
    BA, Medical Anthropology
  • Commercial Theatre Institute

Community

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