Antaeus Announces Leadership Transition:
Bill Brochtrup Steps Down, Nike Doukas Named New Artistic Director
We are pleased to announce that Nike Doukas, a long-time Antaeus company member, will be our new artistic director starting on September 4. She is succeeding our current artistic director and company member Bill Brochtrup.
Bill, a member of Antaeus since 2005 and part of our artistic leadership since 2012, has been instrumental in our company's success. Under his leadership, Antaeus has produced critically-acclaimed seasons featuring works by Shakespeare, Chekhov, Shaw, Ibsen, Brecht, Pinter, and Churchill, as well as American classics by Miller, Williams, Inge, Hellman, Kaufman & Hart, Childress, and Jacobs-Jenkins. His tenure also saw new adaptations of Sophocles and Wright, new plays developed in the Antaeus Playwrights Lab, and three seasons of original audio plays, which earned a 2022 Ambie Award nomination for Best Fiction Podcast. Additionally, Brochtrup helped lead the company's $3 million capital campaign, culminating in the move to the Kiki & David Gindler Performing Arts Center in 2017.
Nike brings a wealth of experience to her new position. She began her professional theater career in the Bay Area, earning her MFA and serving as a company member at the American Conservatory Theatre. Most of her professional life has been based in Los Angeles; she has appeared in 20 productions and countless workshops and readings at the South Coast Repertory Theatre, and has performed at The Mark Taper Forum, The Old Globe, The Pasadena Playhouse, and Shakespeare Festival LA. Her other theater credits include the Berkeley Repertory Theatre, Berkeley Shakespeare Festival, ACT (Seattle), Shakespeare Santa Cruz, The Jewel Theatre, and Pittsburgh’s PICT Classical Theatre and Kinetic Theatre. Doukas is a 2012 Lunt-Fontanne Fellowship recipient. Her Los Angeles directorial debut with Harold Pinter’s The Hothouse at Antaeus garnered 10 Ovation Award nominations and four LA Drama Critic Circle awards. Other directing credits include The Tempest at Antaeus, and productions at A Noise Within, The Ensemble Theatre (Santa Barbara), North Coast Rep (San Diego), The Jewel (Santa Cruz), and Playwright’s Arena (Los Angeles), and PICT Classical Theatre.
"We are deeply grateful for Bill's tremendous contributions to Antaeus during his tenure. His leadership has firmly established Antaeus as a creative cornerstone in Los Angeles, and we are delighted that he will remain an active member of our ensemble. We are equally thrilled to welcome Nike as our new artistic director. Her cohesive vision, unwavering passion for Antaeus, and exceptional artistic sensibility will guide us as we continue to grow and thrive."
- Evie DiCiaccio, Board Chair
“When I started doing community theater plays in Tacoma as a 12-year-old, the thing I loved most was the community of artists coming together to tell a great story. Antaeus has offered me the chance to continue living that dream. It has been a real honor to lead Antaeus through steady growth for over a dozen years — both artistic and financial. Nike is the perfect person to lead Antaeus to the next level. She has exquisite artistic taste, a commitment to the Company’s vision, and the tenacity and know-how to get the job done.
I have so many joyful images from this work — arranging and rearranging index cards with play titles on them attempting to choose a season, lovely house parties with generous donors, the privilege of watching actors in our incredible ensemble create roles; late night notes with directors during previews; sitting next to a seven-year old mesmerized by seeing her first Shakespeare play; and hundreds more.
I look forward to continuing on at Antaeus as an active ensemble member, donor, and audience member.”
- Bill Brochtrup
"I am looking forward to this transition in Antaeus with great pleasure and a deep sense of responsibility. I’m honored to follow in the footsteps of Bill Brochtrup’s visionary leadership. Under Bill and Producing Executive Director Ana Rose O’Halloran, the company was, among other many successes, relocated to our beautiful home in Glendale. Now, we plan to build and expand on what makes us who we are: world-class actors making classical theater come to life in an intimate space.
I am so proud to be a member of our vital Los Angeles theater community. Antaeus has long been part of what makes LA a great place to experience art, and I’m determined to keep that standard high. I hope to continue inspiring, surprising and delighting our audiences."
- Nike Doukas