ELLIE COVAN
Ellie Covan is the founder and artistic director of Dixon Place, a celebrated arts nonprofit and multidisciplinary performance space. She fell in love with live theater at age four. “My parents worked in community theater and always dragged me along,” she explains. At five, she spent a year on the children’s television series “Romper Room.” Fast-forward to 1986, when Covan founded Dixon Place, an artistic incubator which has become a hub of groundbreaking creativity and an NYC institution. She’s produced a number of acclaimed shows over the years, including Peggy Shaw’s “Menopausal Gentleman.”She directed and co-developed actor/writer Nancy Giles’ “Black Comedy: The Wacky Side of Racism,” “Notes of a Negro Neurotic,” and “The Further Adventures of the Accidental Pundette,” which have been performed at the Public Theater, Naked Angels, Ensemble Studio Theatre, Westbank Café and the Jamaica Center for Arts and Learning. In addition to winning two Obie awards, Covan has received a Bessie (New York Dance and Performance Award) and a BAX10 Arts and Artists in Progress Award (from Brooklyn Arts Exchange) for her service to the community. The biggest reward, however, is “seeing it all come together and working with my fabulous staff,” she says. “So long as everyone—staff, artists and audiences—have a good experience, I’m satisfied.” –SLO
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