Jim Nicola

Jim Nicola has been the artistic director of New York Theatre Workshop (NYTW) since 1988. Under his guidance, NYTW has remained steadfast to its founding commitment of nurturing both established and emerging theater artists, promoting collaboration and bold experimentation with theatrical forms. Nicola initiated an extensive series of workshop opportunities including summer residencies and minority theater artist fellowships, and has forged a unique community of theater artists, the Usual Suspects, who form the core of NYTW's artist development activities. As Artistic Director, Mr. Nicola has been instrumental in the development of many NYTW world premieres and has mentored Elevator Repair Service and Noor Theater as companies-in-residence, inviting these smaller theater companies to receive support and resources from NYTW in order to further their growth and development.

Before joining NYTW, Nicola spent nine years at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C., first as a National Endowment for the Arts Directing Fellow and later as a producing associate. From 1975–80, Mr. Nicola was a casting coordinator for the New York Shakespeare Festival. He was a Center management panelist in 2010.