Pictured: Artistic Director Ian Damont Martin and Managing Director Angela Salinas.

Haven Theatre has announced the appointment of Ian Damont Martin as Artistic Director and Angela Salinas as Managing Director.

Martin, who previously served as Associate Artistic Director, succeeds Josh Sobel, who has led the company since August 2014. Sobel, who has been accepted into the MFA Directing Program at California Institute of the Arts, will serve as Associate Artistic Director through the season’s end and will remain active with Haven as an Artistic Associate thereafter. Salinas, who previously worked as General/Production Manager, succeeds Executive Director Carol Cohen, who will now serve as Haven’s Board President.

“I am thrilled to be taking the reins of Artistic Director of Haven, joining a small but powerful network of arts and culture leaders of color,” comments Martin. I look forward to stewarding the continued growth of the company, building on the remarkable foundation laid by my predecessor, Josh Sobel, and the whole Haven family. Haven’s mission is Next Generation, New Canon, Social Profit. I look forward to further realizing that mission. I look forward to the future of Haven and to the opportunity to help define the future of the American theatre.”

Adds Salinas, “For the past two years since being a part of Haven, I truly have grown into someone that I never knew was possible. Both professionally and personally I am better because of this company, predominantly because of the culture that embodies it. There is no place like Haven. No place I have found such a feeling of home and security, yet the freedom to create change in my community. No place that celebrates more of who I am, where I’ve come from, and the type of leader I want to be. I am grateful and humbled by the opportunity given to me, especially from Carol Cohen, who believed in me, and trusted me fully to lead her company that I can only dream to be a part of.”

“I am grateful to those who laid the foundation for this company, and in particular Carol Cohen, for empowering me to build upon that foundation in a way that was intensely personal to me,” comments Sobel. “Haven has been a passion project, one rooted firmly in a belief in the power of the Event and a faith in the next generation of our industry, and I am so deeply proud of what we have achieved here over the past several years. In selecting Ian as the next Artistic Director, Haven is investing in the vision of someone with deeply held values, an exhilarating creative point of view, and a Future-oriented mentality to what we make, how we make it and why. I am overjoyed that he will be joined by Managing Director Angela Salinas, whose contributions to the health, growth and development of this company since joining Haven are simply incalculable. Working with them on this transition process has been a journey of inspiration, of shared beliefs and new ideas, and of a commitment to fostering the Future within Haven. I look forward to the continued evolution of this company.”