Not your average Joe: Haj makes Guthrie directing debut

Haj, 52, took over artistic leadership last summer at the renowned Guthrie Theater following a two-decade tenure by the popular Joe Dowling.

The Guthrie, a regional Tony Award winner, is about 10 times the size of PlayMakers, a professional theater housed at the university in Chapel Hill, where Haj oversaw a schedule of about 10 productions per season.

Haj said PlayMakers was in financial trouble when he arrived as producing artistic director in 2006.

By comparison, Haj is inheriting a solid financial base at the nonprofit Guthrie, which has close to 400 people on the payroll, a budget of $29 million last fiscal year and attendance of more than 380,000.

On the 100th day of his new job, Haj said he assembled everyone on the staff and outlined the Guthrie's four core values — artistic excellence, community, a commitment to diversity and fiscal responsibility.

While the Guthrie concentrates on works from the Western European and American canon, he said the theater must exhibit a "real commitment to a plurality of voices" in his board of directors, staff and "in all areas of our work."

Haj made numerous community appearances while at PlayMakers and has demonstrated a commitment to diversity, said Teresa Eyring, executive director of Theatre Communications Group, which presents nearly 700 member theaters and organizations nationwide.

Both Rauch and actor Wayne T. Carr, who makes his Guthrie debut playing Pericles after performing the role in its two previous productions at the Oregon Shakespeare Festival and the Folger Theatre in Washington, D.C., praise Haj for his kindness and sensitivity that inspire loyalty in his actors.