Leadership

Anita Stewart (Executive and Artistic Director)  Anita Stewart is one of the few professional theater designers in the United States serving in a leadership role at a regional theater. As Executive & Artistic Director,Stewart is responsible for keeping Portland Stage Company’s mission and vision in focus, both onstage and off. While responding to the organization as a whole, Stewart is especially involved in all levels of the artistic product: from selecting the season, to hiring directors and ensuring that a first-rate staff creates entirely one-of-a-kind productions for which PSC has become famous. During her tenure at PSC, Stewart has made a commitment to combining the best local talent with exceptional artists from around the country to create productions of the highest quality. She also remains keenly interested in promoting and cultivating audience involvement in the theatrical process, and artist connection to community. As an integral member of the national arts community, Stewart also finds time to participate in granting panels for organizations across the country including: Maine Arts Commission, National Endowment for the Arts, Massachusetts Cultural Council, Theater Communications Group and Alpert Awards. She has served on discussion panels and conducted workshops for numerous organizations including:The Creativity Workshop, Yale University, Washington D.C.’s Shakespeare Theatre and University of Iowa; she also participated in the Shannon Leadership Institute in Minneapolis. In addition to directing Maine’s premier theater, Stewart works with her husband, Ron Botting, to raise their two wonderful children, Cecelia and James.