ZACH Theatre Leadership

Producing Artistic Director Dave Steakley

Now in his 20th season, Dave is dedicated to creating a place where our community gathers for a collective imaginative act. Dave believes theatre offers an arena in which we might be challenged to understand not just our own lives, but also the world in which we live, and is committed to creating plays and musicals that open meaningful conversations on topics that have resonance in our community. Under Dave’s leadership:

WORLD PREMIERES

• New plays by Anna Deavere Smith, Steven Dietz, Everett Quinton, John Walch, Allen Robertson & The Flaming Idiots
• 365 Plays/365 Days by Suzan-Lori Parks. ZACH served as the Austin hub of a nationwide, year-long festival.
• Jesucristo Superstar – ZACH created the first bi-lingual adaptation of Webber and Rice’s landmark musical
• The Gershwin’s Porgy and Bess, a jazz/R&B reinvention set in Katrina ravaged New Orleans, which received national acclaim from The New York Times and the Gershwin Estate.

PRODUCER, DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER ON OVER 250 ZACH PRODUCTIONS INCLUDING:

Rent, Metamorphoses, Our Town, The Grapes of Wrath, Caroline, or Change, The Clean House, Take Me Out, I Am My Own Wife, Urinetown, Crowns, Omnium-Gatherum, Hair, The Laramie Project, Hedwig, Jelly’s Last Jam, The America Play, Dreamgirls, The Mystery of Irma Vep, Angels In America and Beehive

REGIONAL DIRECTING CREDITS

Actors Theatre of Louisville, New Stage Theatre, American Heartland Theatre, WaterTower Theatre, City Theatre and Downstairs Cabaret

PLAYWRIGHT

• Rockin’ Christmas Party, a holiday tradition at ZACH and theatres nationwide
• Keepin’ It Weird, a play about Austin’s unique character featured on CBS Sunday Morning, NPR, The Wall Street Journal and American Theatre

SERVICE TO THE THEATRE FIELD

• National Endowment for the Arts Theatre and Musical Theatre Panelist
• Texas Commission on the Arts Young Masters Program Panelist
• National Alliance for Musical Theatre New Works Committee

RECOGNITION

• 2009 Austin Dancing with the Stars Champion
• 2005 Austin Circle of Theaters’ Special Recognition Award for “Outstanding Contribution to Austin Theatre”
• City of Austin declares May 18, 2001 as “Dave Steakley Day”
• Austin Chronicle “Best of Austin” Readers Poll “Best Stage Director” six times
• Multiple Austin Critics’ Table and B. Iden Payne Awards for Outstanding Musical, Drama, Comedy, Director, Actor, Choreographer and Design
• 2000 Austin Under 40 Outstanding Arts & Entertainment Award

Managing Director Elisbeth Challener

Elisbeth Challener joined ZACH Theatre in Austin, TX as the organization’s Managing Director in 2007. Elisbeth is responsible for a $22M capital campaign toward the building of a new theatre as well as the management, development and finances of the organization. Under her guidance ZACH completed a Five Year Strategic Plan that will move the organization into the next phase of its significant expansion. 

Prior to Austin, she resided in the San Francisco bay area where she was Montalvo Arts Center’s Executive Director, spending nearly 20 years with the organization. As Executive Director, Elisbeth led Montalvo’s growth from a small, community-based organization into a major presenting venue and home to an internationally acclaimed artists’ residency program.

Other accomplishments during her tenure included increasing ticket sales from less than $500K to more than $4 million, expanding the patron base from 6,000 to 80,000, and raising more than $20 million for capital projects. Earlier in her career, she served as Administrative Director for the San Francisco Boys Chorus, Education/Outreach Director of the Fairmount Theatre of the Deaf, and as department chair and faculty member of the performing arts department of The Purnell School in New Jersey.

Elisbeth graduated from the Boston Conservatory of Music with a bachelor’s degree in fine arts in drama and musical theatre. She attended the Harvard Business School Executive Education Program, The Center for Excellence in Nonprofit Management Leaders Institute in San Jose, Calif. and served in leadership roles for the American Leadership Forum, Silicon Valley, Saratoga Rotary Club and Arts Council of Silicon Valley. Elisbeth has served on the National Alliance of Musical Theatre Festival of New Musicals Committee and was recently elected to the Board and Executive Committee of NAMT. Elisbeth has always had a passion for the theatre and performed for many years in summer stock, dinner theatre, and semi-professional productions on the east coast and in California.