Lear deBessonet Named Next Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater

Lear deBessonet will be the new artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater, succeeding André Bishop after his 33-year tenure. 

DeBessonet is currently the artistic director of Encores! at New York City Center, which produces revivals of musicals and has seen a number of its productions, including the recent revivals of Into the Woods and Once Upon a Mattress, move to Broadway. She will work with Bartlett Sher, a well-known Broadway director and Lincoln Center Theater’s resident director, who will assume the new role of executive producer.

As previously announced, Bishop will end his tenure in June 2025, and will oversee this season which includes Robert Downey Jr. in McNeal, opening this month, and the revival of Floyd Collins this spring. Bishop first joined LCT as artistic director in January 1992, and was appointed producing artistic director in July 2013. Under his leadership, LCT, which is known for its large-scale revivals of musicals and ambitious new plays and has a Broadway theater, in addition to Off-Broadway spaces, has won Tony Awards for its revivals of The King and I and South Pacific and the plays Oslo and The Coast of Utopia. 

In the new role, deBessonet will be responsible for programming and season planning, while Sher will concentrate on international partnerships, brand expansion and growing LCT’s fundraising and resources. Before leading Encores!, deBessonet founded Public Works at the Public Theater, which brings community groups into theater productions, and served as resident director of the program from 2012 to 2020. 

Sher, who has been resident director of LCT since 2008, directed To Kill a Mockingbird on Broadway, in addition to My Fair Lady, Oslo, Fiddler on the Roof, The King and I, The Bridges of Madison County, South Pacific, The Light in the Piazza and more. 

Both will start in the new roles on July 1, 2025 and report directly to the Chair of the LCT Board.

Their appointments come amid a sea change in nonprofit leadership on Broadway, which has four major nonprofit companies. Evan Cabnet, who was artistic director of Lincoln Center Theater’s LCT3, an initiative to produce new works, was recently named as new artistic director of Second Stage Theater, replacing Carole Rothman after a 45-year career. And Roundabout Theater Company is still in search of a permanent leader after the death of Todd Haimes, who had run programming for 40 years. 

“It is the deepest honor of my professional life to serve as the next Artistic Director of Lincoln Center Theater, following the astonishing legacy of André Bishop,” deBessonet said. “From the moment I first stepped onto the campus at Lincoln Center, I felt a sense of awe and magic. From thrilling, important new plays and new musicals to exquisite revivals and revelatory explorations of the classics, I have experienced LCT as a place where intellectual rigor can live alongside wonder, imagination, and beauty.  I believe the theater is a space for the creation and restoration of community – and it is my intention in this job is to be of service to the mission and boundless possibilities of LCT, to our city, and to the field. I am thrilled to work alongside my dear friend Bartlett Sher, whose artistry and vision have profoundly affected my work as a director, and the extraordinary board and staff of Lincoln Center Theater to lead this theater into its next chapter of great success.”

“Lincoln Center Theater is one of the most important theaters in America, and it has been led brilliantly by André Bishop leaving a legacy of exceptional quality and enormous strength,” Sher said. “At the same time, theater has never been more important to our culture for building discourse, engagement and community.  Our magnificent theater spaces combined with our fantastic staff have led to profound and lasting work in the heart of New York and our nation. Lear deBessonet is an incredible artist and leader and I am deeply honored to collaborate with her as she guides Lincoln Center Theater into a transformative future.”