David Hawkanson

David Hawkanson is the Executive Director of Steppenwolf Theatre Company. Prior to Steppenwolf was the Managing Director of the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, Minnesota, under the artistic leadership of Joe Dowling. Before the Guthrie, he served for eight years as the Managing Director of Hartford Stage Company in Connecticut with Artistic Director, Mark Lamos. Earlier in his career, he was Managing Director of the Arizona Theater Company and a Guest Administrator at San Francisco’s American Conservatory Theatre. He was a former senior staff member at the National Endowment for the Arts and subsequently chairman of its Theater Program. He has also had an active career as an arts consultant and trustee for such national organizations as the Kennedy Center Fund for New American Plays, the Ford Foundation’s Working Capitol Fund, National Arts Stabilization Fund, the League of Resident Theatres, Theatre Trustees of America, Theatre Communications Group, and the American Arts Alliance. He currently serves as a trustee of Door County’s Peninsula Players and the League of Chicago Theatres and is Chairman of the Illinois Arts Alliance.