Everyman Theatre has named Brandon Weinbrenner its new artistic director, making him only the second person to hold the job since the downtown Baltimore stage opened its doors. He succeeds founder Vincent Lancisi, who built the company from a church basement into the renovated Town Theater on Fayette Street it occupies today, and Weinbrenner arrives with a dozen-plus years of mainstage credits from one of the country's best-regarded regional theaters.
Weinbrenner becomes Everyman Theatre's first new artistic director in 35 years, according to WBAL-TV 11 Baltimore, which reported the announcement. He spent 13 years at Houston's Alley Theatre working in Houston, Texas, most recently as associate artistic director, a role in which he directed more than a dozen mainstage productions, per Everyman Theatre. Across his career he has directed more than 25 plays and assistant-directed 13 others, according to DC Theater Arts.
Weinbrenner grew up in Dallas and trained at the Dallas Theatre Center and the Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis, per WBAL-TV's reporting. He also received a directing fellowship at Berkeley Repertory Theatre, where he was involved with the Ground Floor new-play program, and he co-founded Alley Theatre's own development festival, Alley All New, the same account notes. “Regional theater has always been part of his life,” Weinbrenner has said, according to the station's report.
A Six-Month Search Behind the Pick
Everyman's board reached the decision after an inclusive six-month-long process that involved staff, resident-company members and the firm Management Consultants for the Arts, the station's report indicates. Weinbrenner will co-lead the theater alongside Managing Director Marissa LaRose once he takes over. He is scheduled to relocate to Baltimore and begin the role in July 2026, though his first full season as artistic director does not start until next September, per the same account.
He succeeds Lancisi, who founded Everyman Theatre in October 1990 and retired from the artistic director position in June 2026, as Everyman Theatre's own history page recounts. Lancisi grew the company from a church basement to a storefront on Charles Street before it moved into its current renovated building in 2013, according to WBAL-TV's reporting.
New Voices and an Expanded Footprint
Weinbrenner has said he hopes to bring known and new voices, including artists from Baltimore and Maryland, to Everyman's stages, and that audiences can expect a continued commitment to developing new work, the station's report states. He has described wanting to deepen Everyman's impact on Baltimore and extend its reach beyond its physical walls into greater Baltimore, suggesting outreach through theater for young audiences, community centers and schools as possible avenues, per the same account. Everyman's resident company already includes playwrights Tuyết Thị Phạm and Katie Kleiger, whose play Different Words for Happiness has a world premiere running, according to WBAL-TV.
Among the first productions on Weinbrenner's docket is Agatha Christie's The Mirror Crack'd, which he is slated to direct in December 2026, per the station's reporting. Everyman has built a sizable following heading into the transition: the theater welcomes more than 30,000 visitors each season across more than 200 nights of programming, according to Baltimore Fishbowl. Single-ticket sales have grown nearly 27% since 2023, as reported by The Baltimore Banner, and the company's subscription renewal rate sits at 81%, which Baltimore Brew describes as well above the national average.
Everyman's mission has long centered on a mix of dramas, comedies, classics and new work, chosen each season to reflect a range of human experience, according to the theater's own mission statement. Weinbrenner is described as an advocate for new-play development, a thread that connects his Houston work to the role he now inherits in downtown Baltimore.
