(HOBOKEN, NJ) -- Chris O’Connor, Mile Square Theatre’s Founder and Artistic Director, has announced he is stepping down from his role in January 2022. O’Connor founded Mile Square Theatre (MST) in 2002 while he was pursuing his master’s degree at Rutgers University’s Mason Gross School of the Arts.
The company got its start performing shows in Hoboken’s parks, libraries, high school auditoriums, and even private homes. In 2008, MST took up residency in the Monroe Center and began producing regularly while building a committed audience base. The organization soon found need for a larger space and built a new theatre in uptown Hoboken in 2016 where it resides today. MST now boasts of being the largest non-profit performing arts organization in Hudson County.
“It has truly been the honor of my life to have created Mile Square Theatre back in 2002 and to have shepherded it to this moment,” says O’Connor. “It was an impossible dream to establish an organization that would add to the rich fabric of this wonderful city. With the help of talented and dedicated theatre artists, an audience base who recognizes the value of arts and culture in their community, and a tenacious Board of Trustees, we have built a first-class professional theatre that will live well beyond my tenure. We built this together.”
“We are unbelievably lucky that Chris O’Connor moved to Hoboken years ago, recognized the incredible tradition of the arts here, and wanted to add to it by building a professional theater organization,” says MST Board President Stephanie Rostan. “Through his drive and vision, he has helped bring over one hundred live productions to stages, living rooms and outdoor plazas in the city over the last twenty years, making us laugh, cry, think, discuss and come together as a community over and over again. It is now a real thrill to imagine the performances that will be brought to our audiences by the next Artistic Director as Mile Square Theatre continues to entertain us for years to come.”
MST’s Board of Trustees has begun a search for Mr. O’Connor’s successor who will take on the role in January. The new leadership will be coming into the position as the company reopens its doors to audiences for the first time since the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. O’Connor will join the MST Board of Trustees and continue to advise the company. He leaves a financially stable and growing organization after helping to guide it through the challenges of the pandemic.
“Now is the time for a change,” O’Connor added. “Time for new ideas and new leadership to carry the mission of MST forward. Such an exciting moment. I’m thrilled to see this next phase for MST, as it grows and flourishes under new direction.”
Photo by Joe Epstein Photography
