Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council

Michael J. Bobbitt, Executive Director of Mass Cultural Council as of February 1, 2021,
has dedicated his professional career to arts leadership. He is a director,
choreographer, and playwright.
Since March 2019 he has served as the Artistic Director of the New Repertory Theatre
in Watertown, MA; immediately prior he held the same position at the Adventure
Theatre-MTC in Maryland for twelve years. While in Maryland Bobbitt led the
organization to be a respected theatre/training company in the DC region, as well as a
nationally influential professional Theatre for Young Audiences. He led a merger with
Musical Theater Center, increased the organizational budget and audience,
commissioned new works by noted playwrights, transferred two shows to Off-Broadway,
built an academy, and earned dozens of Helen Hayes Award Nominations, garnering
eight wins.

Bobbitt gained extensive experience in non-profit arts management by training at
Harvard Business School’s Strategic Perspectives in Nonprofit Management, The
National Arts Strategies Chief Executive Program, and Cornell University’s Diversity and
Inclusion Certification Program. He has served as an Associate Professor of Theatre at
Boston Conservatory at Berklee and volunteered on numerous non-profit boards,
including Non-Profit Village, Maryland Citizens for the Arts, Leadership Montgomery,
Weissberg Foundation, Watertown Public Art Commission, and ArtsBoston. He is a
member of MASSCreative’s Policy Committee.

Bobbitt has directed/choreographed at Arena Stage, Ford’s Theatre, The Shakespeare
Theatre Company, Olney Theatre Center, Studio Theatre, Woolly Mammoth Theatre,
Center Stage, Roundhouse Theatre, The Kennedy Center, and the Washington
National Opera. His national and international credits include the NY Musical Theatre
Festival, Mel Tillis 2001, La Jolla Playhouse, Children’s Theatre of Charlotte, Jefferson
Performing Arts Center, and the Olympics. As a writer his work was chosen for the NYC
International Fringe Festival and The New York and Musical Theatre Festival. He has
plays published by Concord Theatricals/Rogers and Hammerstein Theatricals,
Broadway Publishing and Plays for Young Audiences. Bobbitt has received the Excel
Leadership Award (Center for Nonprofit Advancement), the Emerging Leader Award
(County Executive’s Excellence in the Arts and Humanities), and Person of the Year
Award (Maryland Theatre Guide).

Photo Credit: Craig Bailey/Perspective Photo.