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Kay Oliver, Ph.D. is a 2025 graduate of the PHD Program in Leadership and Change at Antioch University.

Kay Oliver at her Dissertation Defense.

From L-R: Dr. Harriet Schwartz, Committee Chair, Dr. Sandie Turner, Committee Member, Dr. Fayth Parks, Committee Member

Dissertation Committee

  • Harriet Schwartz, PhD, Committee Chair
  • Fayth Parks, PhD, Committee Member
  • Sandie Turner, PhD, Committee Member

Keywords

cultural resources, management theater, performing arts, theater history, theater studies, touchpoints, leadership

Document Type

Dissertation

Publication Date

2025

Abstract

Arena Stage was founded in 1950 in Washington, DC, by Zelda Fichandler, Tom Fichandler, and Edward Mangum. Today, Arena Stage serves a diverse annual audience of more than 300,000 people. It is the largest theater company dedicated to American plays and playwrights in the country. This study presents a single intrinsic historical case study of Arena Stage to examine the internal organizational structure and leadership dynamics that guided the theater through seven decades of turbulent American history. Arena Stage has provided world-class programming while the nation was grappling with the Vietnam War (1950–1975), Brown v. Board of Education (1954), political assassinations (e.g., John F. Kennedy, Martin Luther King, and Robert Kennedy, 1963–1968), the World Trade Center terrorist attack (2001), the election of the first Black president (2008), subsequent elections bombarded with election deniers and acts of insurrection (2021), the impeachment trials of sitting presidents Bill Clinton (1998) and Donald Trump (2019 and 2021), and the global COVID-19 pandemic that closed all theaters from 2020 to 2023. That Arena Stage survived is not in question; this dissertation aims to determine how it survived while many theaters were forced to close. Assumptions about Arena Stage’s success include strong leadership, artistic vision, community involvement, physical expansion, and awards received. Perhaps a combination of these factors creates success. This study sought evidence of success factors, termed as touchpoints. Are some factors necessary, while others are not? The results can provide an argument for what works, depending on similar demographics. This is important when understanding theaters’ impact on social, political, cultural, and economic concerns. When nonprofit arts and culture organizations generate $151 billion annually in economic activity, it is worth noting how this happens. This dissertation is available in open access at AURA: Antioch University Repository and Archive (https://aura.antioch.edu/) and OhioLINK ETD Center (https://etd.ohiolink.edu/).

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Kay Oliver

ORCID: #0009-0001-5460-486X

Kay Taylor Oliver is an educator and writer. Her experiences range from being a classroom teacher in Detroit Public Schools to serving as an associate superintendent of schools in Philadelphia and an associate professor of Educational Leadership and Policy Studies at Temple University. Kay has held the position of president of the Board of Directors for the George Washington Carver Museum in Phoenix, Arizona, and has been part of the National Advisory Boards for Michigan State University’s College of Education and “The Learning Classroom,” presented by Mort Crim Communications and Stanford University. She has also served as president of The Phoenix Chapter of the Links, Incorporated; is a Golden Life member of Delta Sigma Theta Sorority, Incorporated; a lifetime member of the NAACP; and is part of the African American Women’s Giving Circle, a philanthropic organization dedicated to providing grants to minority startup businesses. Kay is a Board Member of the Be Kind People Project, which aims to offer students comprehensive programming with a positive approach to social, emotional, and academic learning, and she is the Secretary of the Board of Trustees of The Arizona Theatre Company. Additionally, she is a founding member of the National Staff Development Council’s Coaching for Results. Kay is the author of Teacher Behavior in the Context of a Continuum of Teacher Improvement; Through Their Eyes: A Strategic Response to the National Achievement Gap; Princess Aisha and the Cave of Judgment; Princess Aisha and the Arrow of Truth; and Winter’s Love.

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