Roundabout Theatre Company has named Rebecca Habel as its incoming managing director. Habel, who previously worked with Roundabout from 2005 to 2011, will begin consulting with Roundabout in fall 2025 before assuming the new role full-time in January 2026. As managing director, Habel will lead the nonprofit’s business management and administration, along with incoming artistic director Christopher Ashley, in a new co-leadership structure for the organization.
Habel’s appointment is the latest in a shift of leadership at Roundabout, one of the four producing nonprofits represented on Broadway. Following the 2023 passing of longtime artistic director and CEO Todd Haimes, Scott Ellis has served as interim artistic director. As previously announced, Ashley will take over as artistic director in 2026. Habel and Ashley will join a leadership team that includes current executive director Sydney Beers and chief advancement officer Christopher Nave.
During her previous tenure with Roundabout, Habel served as general manager for the nonprofit’s Off-Broadway space, the Harold and Miriam Steinberg Center for Theatre. During that time, Habel, along with Haimes, launched the Roundabout Underground series, which fosters new works by emerging playwrights. Habel also spent several years as general manager of Roundabout’s flagship Broadway venue, the American Airlines Theatre (now known as the Todd Haimes Theatre). Habel’s nonprofit leadership résumé also includes separate stints as general manager and later managing director of the Vineyard Theatre. Habel is currently a partner with Broadway producing and general management company TT Partners, where she has accumulated a slew of Main Stem general management credits, working on such shows as “The Hills of California,” “Illinoise,” “Patriots” and “Leopoldstadt.”
“I am thrilled to return to Roundabout to work again with Scott Ellis, Sydney Beers and Chris Nave and to partner with Chris Ashley in guiding Roundabout in its next phase of producing world class theater,” Habel said in a statement. “I am grateful to the board for their confidence as we embark on this work together. I have had a wonderful experience with my partners at TT Partners and am excited for them as they continue to build on all the success we have had together.”
“With her vast experience in business management and her sharp administrative judgment, Rebecca will be a great partner as we take this extraordinary opportunity to lead Roundabout into its next chapter,” said Ashley. “She is a bold thinker but also deliberate, tough but also kind, with a wealth of strong relationships with top-notch theater makers. All of that will mean great things for Roundabout, and I can’t wait for us to get started.”
“Rebecca’s deft work managing large budgets, productions and multifaceted projects and the respect she’s earned with artists, unions, shops and crews will make her a great leader for Roundabout,” said Roundabout board of directors chair Kitty Patterson Kempner. “Since Todd Haimes’s passing, Scott Ellis, Sydney Beers and Chris Nave have led Roundabout brilliantly, with two of our most successful seasons. I know that having Christopher and Rebecca add their vision to this team will mean great things for artists, audiences and young people Roundabout serves.”
Roundabout’s search for Habel was conducted in collaboration with Ashley, Ellis, Beers, Nave and Management Consultants for the Arts. The Roundabout search committee included board of directors Lawrence Kaplen, Stephanie Kramer, LaChanze, Taylor Lawrence, Patterson, Mary C. Solomon, Thomas E. Tuft and Johannes Worsoe.
Roundabout’s upcoming Broadway season will include a revival of “The Rocky Horror Show,” directed by Tony Award winner Sam Pinkleton, which will play Studio 54 in spring 2026. Also set for the spring is an Ellis-helmed revival of Noël Coward’s “Fallen Angels” starring Kelli O’Hara and Rose Byrne at the Haimes Theatre. A Sonia Friedman-produced mounting of “Oedipus” will play Studio 54 in fall 2025, produced in association with Roundabout. As previously reported, the Haimes Theatre will undergo renovations beginning in August 2025.
