Antaeus Announces Leadership Transition: Bill Brochtrup Steps Down, Nike Doukas Named New Artistic Director
GLENDALE, Calif. (June 28, 2024) — Antaeus Theatre Company is pleased to announce that Nike Doukas, a long-time company member, will be the new artistic director. Doukas will assume the role on September 4, succeeding current artistic director and company member Bill Brochtrup.
Brochtrup, a member of Antaeus since 2005 and part of its artistic leadership since 2012, has been instrumental in the 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.
Reflecting on his time at Antaeus, Brochtrup said, “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.”
Doukas 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.
Expressing her excitement about the new role, Doukas said, “I am looking forward to this transition in Antaeus with great pleasure and a deep sense of responsibility. I plan to build and expand on what makes Antaeus special: world class actors making classical theater come to life in an intimate space. I plan to continue with Bill’s work; inspiring, surprising and delighting our audiences.”
Board chair Evie DiCiaccio expressed gratitude for Brochtrup’s contributions, saying, “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.”
Antaeus is an actor-driven theater company dedicated to exploring and producing timeless works, grounded in a passion for the classics. The company illuminates diverse human experiences through performance, training, and outreach, believing in the transformative power of live theater.
For more information about the Antaeus Theatre Company, visit www.antaeus.org.
