Welcome!
I’m an experienced and collaborative non-profit arts manager and leader who is ready to help your organization with a variety of services.
Most of my time has been spent in the world of managing regional producing theatres, but my experiences in other parts of the industry inform my work and broaden my expertise.
My strengths lie in overall institutional leadership, theatrical general management and contracting, facility development, and general administration; but curiosity and flexibility are hallmarks of my practice. Please contact me to discuss how I can help with your specific needs!
Ted DeLong
Photo by Jenny Graham
Photo courtesy of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company
How can I help?
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I’m an experienced interim leader and manager, able to provide a “steady hand” during times of organizational transition. Please contact me to discuss the details and optimal structure of an interim assignment.
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I’m experienced with preparing and negotiating many types of theatrical contracting, including licensing and commissioning agreements; enhancement agreements; actor, director, and other creative artist contracting; and more.
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I’m an experienced leader of capital facility projects, from inception to opening. Services may include feasibility analysis, operational planning, and project oversight.
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Search and recruitment can be one of the most time-consuming components of leadership. I can help with all aspects of the process, including requirements assessment, job description development, candidate recruitment, interviews, and designing an onboarding plan.
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Facing a sticky organizational design problem? I can help you determine an optimal structure and distribution of duties to achieve your goals.
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Need help with something not listed here? Contact me to discuss your needs and how I can help!
Case Studies
These projects and initiatives are among my favorite examples of work which has made a difference in the institutions and communities I’ve been a part of.
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Beginning in 2014, I oversaw the approximately $4.5 million renovation of OSF’s central courtyard, popularly known as “The Bricks,” in order to improve accessibility, safety, and functionality for patrons, staff, and the Ashland community. This process began with the issuance of an RFQ for design firms and design team selection, and proceeded through the typical construction phases, (including extensive design and process consultation and communication with stakeholders and the community, value engineering, and scope expansion), with final completion in the spring of 2017. The project came in on time and on budget, and although the project complicated everything at OSF for the two years of construction, we never lost or delayed a performance. I served as the project lead / owner’s representative for OSF, working with the design team, contractors, local officials, and most importantly, the OSF company, with whom I communicated frequently and voluminously. I’m deeply proud of this project and how it solved a series of long-festering issues at OSF and created an accessible public space which will be a landmark for generations.
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As the interim managing director at Woolly Mammoth, I devised a grant program for Woolly employees which makes modest reimbursements for expenses related to professional development activities. While Woolly was a small theatre, we felt it was of great importance to nurture our staff and to make it possible for them to pursue growth and learning opportunities. At least one staff member took advantage of this program during my time at Woolly.
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Artist contracting was the core of my work as General Manager at OSF. Every year for most of my tenure I contracted around 120 performers, and more than a dozen authors and creative team members. I strove to make the best deals for everyone concerned, including thoughtful, equity-rooted terms for artists and provisions which recognized the value OSF added to every production it mounted. Continual process improvement was also very important, including automating much of the vast actor contracting process in order to ensure accuracy and clarity.
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As the interim managing director at Woolly Mammoth, I established a rubric for a “living wage” for all employees, based on MIT’s living wage calculator. Implementation of the living wage plan led to retroactive pay increases for some of Woolly’s lowest-compensated employees, and set a much-needed baseline for compensation of new hires.
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In September 2020, portions of Ashland as well as the neighboring communities of Phoenix and Talent were devastated by an urban wildfire which destroyed over 2,000 units of housing. Dozens of OSF staff members were affected, along with hundreds of our neighbors. I led and supported an effort by OSF’s housing and general management teams to provide housing (often free of charge) to as many victims of the fire as we could, ultimately housing over 50 families for various lengths of time before other housing was available to them.
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In one of the most unusual episodes in my career (so far), I shepherded the gift of a real woolly mammoth tusk (authenticated by the Smithsonian’s National Museum of Natural History) to Woolly Mammoth, including picking it up from the elementary school where it had been residing (serving as a coat rack for generations of students) and driving it to the theatre, where it now occupies a place of honor, not unlike the final resting place of the Ark of the Covenant, in the conference room. This is not always something the managing director does, but I like to take opportunities to make a contribution, even (or especially) in unorthodox ways!
My wife Sarah, our two daughters, and I make our home in Ashland, Oregon, on the ancestral homelands of the Shasta, Takelma, and Latgawa peoples. When not working on our century-old home, I can be found on my sailboat on the lakes of the Cascade and Siskiyou mountains which surround the Rogue Valley.
About Ted
Most recently, I served for a year as the interim managing director of Woolly Mammoth Theatre Company in Washington, DC. At Woolly Mammoth, I focused on providing steady leadership and administrative expertise, and on laying the groundwork for a smooth and informative transition into the organization for my successor.
Prior to joining Woolly Mammoth, I worked for over a decade at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival in Ashland, Oregon, mostly as OSF’s general manager. In that capacity, I focused on artistic contracting, capital facility projects (including end-to-end supervision of a $4.5 million renovation of OSF’s central plaza, popularly known as “The Bricks”), and overseeing several operational departments.
Before joining OSF, I worked as a project manager in the West Coast office of AMS Planning & Research, a national management consulting firm focused on the cultural sector. At AMS, I worked on a variety of projects, including facility feasibility studies, cultural planning, and operating plans for new or renovated cultural facilities.
I’ve had other experiences in production and administration across the spectrum of American theatres, including summer stock, Off-Off-Broadway, and numerous LORT theatres.
I hold an MFA in theater management from Yale School of Drama and a bachelor’s degree in theatre summa cum laude from Knox College in Galesburg, Illinois.
Current Clients
upstart crow collective
American Repertory Theater
TimeLine Theatre Company
Contact Ted
Please use the form below to reach out or be added to my mailing list!