Sarah Wansley Appointed Artistic Director of Delaware Rep

Wansley has served as Northern Stage’s BOLD Associate Artistic Director since 2021, working alongside Producing Artistic Director Carol Dunne as a director, producer, educator, and member of the theater’s artistic leadership.

Her appointment to lead REP represents the kind of advancement the HGB BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle was created to make possible: preparing exceptional women theater artists for the highest levels of artistic leadership in the American theater.

Founded in 2017 by the Helen Gurley Brown Foundation and led by Dunne, the BOLD Theater Women’s Leadership Circle was created in response to the persistent underrepresentation of women in artistic leadership positions at professional theaters across the country. The initiative pairs emerging artistic leaders with women already leading major theater institutions, providing mentorship, resources, and, critically, sustained experience in the day-to-day work of artistic leadership.

Rather than simply preparing women to someday lead institutions, BOLD gives its Associates the opportunity to do that work now.

At Northern Stage, Wansley has been deeply embedded in the artistic and institutional life of the company. During her tenure, she has directed countless productions including The Children, The Vermont Farm Project, Constellations, Sweat, Spring Awakening, and Heisenberg, while contributing to new play development, season planning, education, community engagement, and the cultivation of emerging artists. She concluded her career at Northern Stage after directing Kimberly Belflower’s John Proctor is the Villain, which closed on October 11, 2026.

At the University of Delaware, Wansley will lead Delaware REP as the company enters its 19th season. In addition to serving as Artistic Director, she will join the faculty of the University’s Department of Theatre and Dance. REP brings professional theater artists together with the University’s academic community, creating opportunities for students to learn and collaborate alongside working professionals.

In announcing her new position, University of Delaware College of Arts and Sciences Dean Caleb Everett cited Wansley’s “artistic vision, leadership experience and deep commitment to community engagement,” while Department of Theatre and Dance Interim Chair Kimberly Schroeder highlighted her experience as a director, artistic leader, and educator. For Wansley, the opportunity brings together many of the areas that have defined her work at Northern Stage.

“I am thrilled to join the dynamic faculty of the University of Delaware Theatre and Dance Department and lead the REP into its next era,” Wansley said in the University of Delaware’s announcement. “Working with a resident ensemble of artists is such a rare gift in the American theater. The combination of professionals working at the top of their craft and student artists creates uniquely fertile ground for innovative work and new producing models.”

Wansley’s appointment is both a celebration of an extraordinary artist and colleague and a demonstration of what sustained investment in leadership development can accomplish.

For Northern Stage, it is also a moment of profound institutional pride: an artistic leader developed through a program created in White River Junction, Vermont, will now take what she has learned and lead another professional theater into its next chapter.