A Peckham-based drama school announced its new artistic director and CEO yesterday.
Former Director and Chief Executive of the Jewish Museum and Artistic Director of Soho Theatre Abigail Morris is ‘hugely excited’ to be taking on the role at Mountview in December 2021.
This comes after Mountview won a RIBA London Award earlier this year, and in 2020 its Peckham home was shortlisted for The Stage Theatre Building of the Year.
Abigail said: “I want the new building in Peckham to be fizzing with creative energy and be proudly local at the same time as having a national and international profile.
“I look forward to continuing develop Mountview’s wonderful combination of inclusive accessibility with the highest possible standards.”
While Artistic Director and CEO of Soho Theatre between 1992 and 2005, Abigail was responsible for building Soho Theatre in Dean Street. Here, she helped to launch the career of, among others, Doctor Who and Broadchurch writer Chris Chibnall, Academy Award nominee and Bridge of Spies writer Matt Charman and James Tait Black Memorial Prize winning playwright Tanika Gupta MBE.
Incoming Mountview Chair, Dame Rosemary Squire, described Abigail as: “a visionary and innovative creative practitioner committed to the highest principles of vocational training who has developed two successful theatre companies and helped shape the careers of many leading British theatre makers.”
In her previous role as Director and Chief Executive of the Jewish Museum, Abigail introduced innovative community engagement programmes which helped produce exhibitions such as the Polish Cultural event 2017 nominee Blood: Uniting and Dividing, and Amy Winehouse: A Family Portrait.
This year Mountview also launched the Mountview Prize, which celebrates trailblazers who inspire social change. The first recipient was named as director Dawn Walton, founder of the UK’s foremost Black-led production company, Eclipse Theatre.