BOSTON — On March 27, SpeakEasy Stage Company’s Board of Directors appointed award-winning, multi-hyphenate theatre artist Dawn M Simmons as its new artistic director, a press release said. Simmons succeeds founding Artistic Director Paul Daigneault, who led the company for over three decades. Daigneault steps down on June 30; Simmons begins a day later, on July 1.
Ahead of her new role at SpeakEasy Stage, Simmons graciously found time in her busy schedule to chat with me over the phone on April 4 to discuss her new role, her current projects, and her hopes for the future of SpeakEasy Stage and our Boston theatre community.
Apologies to Simmons and the SpeakEasy staff for the tardy publishing of this interview. Writing while our democracy crumbles before our very eyes is painstaking.
This article is condensed and edited for fluidity, length, grammar, and punctuation.
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KD: First of all, how are you doing?
DMS: It is a really weird time to be like “Great!” Right? I’m so happy. Like, all the appropriate things, but looming in the background: This is the darkest of dark timelines.
This community has been through it. What else can possibly get thrown at us? …We’re gonna find out.
KD: I appreciate your perspective. It’s so weird to be personally doing really well, and then to widen the lens to see how politically, we, as you said, are in the darkest timeline… At the same time, you’re becoming artistic director of SpeakEasy Stage, and that is just the coolest.
DMS: Even though we’re in this dark moment. There are still good things happening… How can we celebrate those good things and use those moments to be encouraging for all, to not get so overwhelmed by all of the work that is coming our way? There are forces actively trying to dismantle our government, trying to dismantle our way of life, and trying to actively preach hate and intolerance. Now we have to work even harder… Now, we have to recalibrate. It’s like, “Come on, can’t we catch a break?” And no, we can’t. Evil doesn’t sleep. Hate doesn’t sleep.
KD: Agreed. 100% agreed.
It’s exciting that you’re joining SpeakEasy Stage, especially when Paul Daigneault is retiring. How are you feeling about this change?
DMS: I feel- and I hope he feels- really good about it. I have admired his work for the last 20-plus years. When I first landed in town, he was running SpeakEasy Stage. (The company) was doing the most subversive, most exciting work on stage. That is what I’m reaching towards. I aspire to his artistry.
We’ll feel the absence of Paul, the artist. I hope that we never feel the absence of SpeakEasy, the organization that he started. My hope is that under my leadership, we’ll be able to dream bigger and continue the great work that he started. …It’s gonna be an adjustment. There’s also this part of me that’s like, I hope I make (Paul) proud.
KD: Speaking of inspiration, what is your bucket list for SpeakEasy? What are you inspired to do as artistic director?
DMS: I think I’m still trying to fill my bucket, right? I have some ideas for when I come in. The more I sit in conversation with other theater makers, the more those ideas shift.
I’m still figuring out what I want to accomplish in the role. I’m asking myself what I aspire to and how my aspirations and SpeakEasy’s needs intersect with the Boston theatre community’s needs.
The Boston fringe theatre community is at the top of my mind… I’m interested in figuring out SpeakEasy’s place in bringing that back because we are missing that feeder system. And it hurts my heart to not be able to go and see something new, something weird, and find that talent. I want to figure out what our role is in reinvigorating that and making sure that those artists get their next opportunities, get that further shine. We need that again. So, I’m really excited to figure that out.
KD: So, to become the artistic director of SpeakEasy, you have to leave the Front Porch Arts Collective. In the press release, there is a quote from Maurice Emmanuel Parent, which is wonderful and so sweet. How did you make that decision?
DMS: From the beginning of our time with The Front Porch, I had expressed to Maurice that I wanted to build a company that could outlast me. I wanted to build a company that, if I leave, however I leave, will continue on.
So when this opportunity came up, we were in such a stable, thriving place. Right now, we are thriving. So it felt like if there was ever a time when it would be smart and safe, now was the time. So I took a chance, and things worked out.
…It is now time to have that same conversation: “What is our next moment?” And, Maurice (with The Front Porch team) gets to lead that. I am excited to see some of the changes that he makes, some of the things that he digs deep into with these stalwarts, who all believe in this organization. I’m really excited.
Quote by Parent from the March 27, 2025 SpeakEasy Stage announcement.
KD: It has been a banner year for you and The Porch. The Ufot Family Cycle has been tremendously successful. Will working with SpeakEasy allow you to do more directing?
DMS: I think it will take a different shape in the beginning as I get my sea legs under me. But I also think that part of what makes me valuable, right, is the way that I’ve been able to move either within the community and, like, going into other people’s houses, seeing how they work, and taking strength from that, and bringing it back into my own work.
There are many ways to know all of the people in this community. One of the ways that I have been able to do that is by working with many people firsthand. I have that experiential knowledge of them. I certainly expressed to SpeakEasy, “I do want to keep directing. What does that look like? How does that happen? What are the other organizations that I might work with?” So, we’ll see. But also, my absence will make space for someone else, and that’s a good thing, too.
KD: Absolutely. I love that you are claiming the fact that you are valuable. You should know that you’re valuable. You should embrace that. That is so beautiful.
We congratulate sunrising Artistic Director Dawn M Simmons, sunsetting Artistic Director Paul Daigneault, and the entire SpeakEasy Stage staff and crew! May your transitions be smooth, your futures be bright, and your successes be many. We’ll see you at the theatre.
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ABOUT DAWN M. SIMMONS
Simmons’s reach and experience in the Greater Boston theater community has been significant. In 2016, along with Maurice Emmanuel Parent, Simmons co-founded – and has since served as Co-Producing Artistic Director for – The Front Porch Arts Collective, Boston’s leading Black theater company committed to advancing racial equity in Boston through theater. “The Porch,” as it’s known, and SpeakEasy are regular collaborators, having co-produced three shows (“Pass Over,” “A Strange Loop,” and “Ain’t No Mo’”). Beardsley says the organizations remain committed to working together.
In 2008, Simmons co-founded her first theater company, New Exhibition Room, which was dedicated to producing provocative, political and affordable theater events. She served as Executive Director of the service organization StageSource, where she focused on workforce development and sector improvement in New England theater. Much of Simmons’ work has shone a light on social and social justice issues, and encouraged theater makers, cultural leaders and audiences to understand, examine and address them.
Simmons has directed a wide array of award-winning productions in Boston and beyond including shows at Actors’ Shakespeare Project, Central Square Theater, Commonwealth Shakespeare Company, Gloucester Stage, Greater Boston Stage Company, the Huntington, Lyric Stage Company, New Repertory Theatre, and Wheelock Family Theatre (all in Greater Boston), at New England-based JAG Productions (White River Junction, Vt.) and WAM Theatre (Lenox, Mass.), and across the country at Alliance Theatre (Atlanta), Play On Shakespeare (Ashland, Ore.) and The Hangar Theatre (Ithaca, NY).
Simmons holds the 2024/25 Monan Professorship in Theatre Arts at Boston College, which brings renowned theater artists to work and teach at the campus for one year. She has been an adjunct faculty member at Northeastern University and has worked with Berklee College of Music, Suffolk University, Brandeis University, Harvard University and others.
Daigneault and Simmons have been close colleagues for years, collaborating on projects, providing each other creative counsel and addressing mutual concerns for the regional theater scene. As Simmons says, “Paul was instrumental in shaping the theatrical landscape of our city. He brought us work that was bold, thought-provoking, challenging, nostalgic and inspiring, setting a high bar for excellence in Boston. Through his efforts, he created opportunities for artists to thrive and find a true home here.”
Daigneault says leading SpeakEasy has been the privilege of a lifetime: “I’m excited to collaborate on this transitional period with an artist and leader for whom I have such affection and respect. I am confident Dawn’s exceptional talents will propel the company to even greater heights.”
Simmons begins her new role July 1, as SpeakEasy starts its 35th Season.
ABOUT SPEAKEASY STAGE
Now in its 34th year, SpeakEasy Stage is an award-winning, not-for-profit, professional theatre company in residence at the Stanford Calderwood Pavilion at the Boston Center for the Arts. Founded and led by Producing Artistic Director Paul Daigneault, the company has consistently won acclaim for its intimate, top-quality, original productions of bold contemporary plays and musicals that, for three decades, have sparked conversations that challenge, connect and inspire its audiences and the Greater Boston community. In addition, as part of its mission to build and support a thriving local theatre scene, SpeakEasy works with hundreds of Massachusetts-based actors, directors, designers, and technicians each year, and trains early-career artists through its emerging artist and fellowship programs. From its humble 40-seat beginnings, the company has emerged as a leader in Boston’s theatre community, a champion of diverse and emerging voices, and a staunch proponent of the transformative power of theatre to bring about social change.
