Mark Cuddy

Artistic Director

Mark Cuddy (Artistic Director) is in his 16th season at Geva Theatre Center. He has led Geva through a renaissance of artistic and institutional growth with a diverse repertory, top-flight artists, wide-reaching educational programs and a commitment to new play development. During his tenure, Geva has doubled its operating budget, built the 180-seat Nextstage, erased previous accumulated deficits and began an endowment. As a director, Mr. Cuddy is known for his productions of musicals, contemporary comedies and premieres. Recent Geva productions include Sweeney Todd, Fences, Five Course Love, A Christmas Story, and Pride and Prejudice (co-adaptor). In 2010-11 he will direct the premier of his own adaptation of A Christmas Carol with music and lyrics by Gregg Coffin, and The Music Man. Among his many other Geva credits are the world premieres of Convenience (musical) by Gregg Coffin, Theophilus North by Matthew Burnett from Thornton Wilder (also at Arena Stage), Splitting Infinity by Jamie Pachino, Famous Orpheus by Oyamo (choreography by Garth Fagan), House and Garden by Alan Ayckbourn (East Coast premiere), and That Was Then (American premiere).

Mr. Cuddy has also served as Artistic Director of Sacramento Theatre Company, Producing Director of the Idaho Shakespeare Festival and on the directing staff of the Denver Center Theatre Company. He serves on the board of directors of Theatre Communications Group and has served on the review panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York State Council on the Arts. He received his BA in Theatre/Honors from the University of Massachusetts where he was a Commonwealth Scholar. He resides in the Highland Park area of Rochester with his wife, artist Christina Selian. Their older son, Maximilian, recently graduated from Temple University, receiving a Fulbright to teach English in South Africa, and their younger son, Augustus, is in the 10th grade at the Rochester School of the Arts with a creative writing emphasis.

Tom Parrish

Executive Director

Tom Parrish joined Geva Theatre Center this March following five seasons as Executive Director of Merrimack Repertory Theatre (MRT) in Lowell, Massachusetts. In 2007, he was named one of the Lowell Sun’s “25 Most Fascinating People,” and in 2010, he was designated one of the Merrimack Valley’s “40 Under 40.” In Greater Lowell, he was involved with the Young Professionals of Greater Lowell, the Downtown Lowell Business Committee, served on the Boards of the Cultural Organization of Lowell and Greater Lowell Chamber of Commerce, and has served as a panelist for the New Hampshire State Council on the Arts. He is also actively involved with the League of Resident Theatres, the management association of America’s top-tier professional regional theatres. Prior to joining MRT, Mr. Parrish served as Associate Managing Director and General Manager of San Diego Repertory Theatre, where he received an NAACP Theatre Award for Best Producer, managed a variety of education and outreach initiatives, and produced the theatre’s annual Kuumba Fest Celebration, the largest African American cultural festival of its kind on the West Coast. While in San Diego, he was involved with the San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition, the Arts and Culture Committee of the Downtown Partnership, and the Emerging Leaders of San Diego Arts & Culture and served on the publicly elected Centre City Advisory Committee. In 2006, he was named to San Diego Metropolitan Magazine’s “40 Under 40.” Born in Buffalo, with much of his family still living in Western New York, Mr. Parrish also has worked in various capacities at Arena Stage, Dallas Theater Center, The Cleveland Play House, Meadow Brook Theatre, Dobama Theater and the Dallas Symphony Orchestra. He received both a M.B.A. and M.A. in Arts Administration from Southern Methodist University, a B.A. in Theatre Arts and Economics from Case Western Reserve University, and attended the National Theater Institute at the Eugene O’Neill Theater Center. Mr. Parrish looks forward to making Rochester his home in the coming months and to becoming an active member of the community. He lives in the Corn Hill neighborhood of Rochester.