Marcus Romer to leave Pilot Theatre

Marcus Romer, artistic director of York’s cutting edge theatre company, Pilot Theatre, has announced that he will be stepping down at the end of the financial year to pursue a number of freelance projects.

Marcus joined Pilot Theatre as Artistic Director in 1994, reshaping the company and broadening the scope of the company’s work to introduce innovation and new technology into performance, from creating the first continually-running soundtrack to a show, to more recent developments including the first live streaming of a theatrical performance in 2008. This technique, which went on to be used at the York Mystery Plays is now used across Pilot’s work internationally.  As a result Pilot now leads TheatreLivestream TV, a national project which makes the technology and expertise available to other performing companies.

Marcus’s influence within the national and international arts scenes can be seen in the Arts Council England’s annual No Boundaries conferences, which followed the template and structure of Shift Happens conferences, which ran from 2008 – 2013, curated by Marcus.

The work Marcus has done with Pilot Theatre has not been confined to either the stage or internet – although with 960 performances of the award-winning Lord of The Flies under his belt, he has always embraced theatre – but stretches into feature films with the movie The Knife That Killed Me released and distributed by Universal Pictures, the first ever feature film shot entirely on green screen in Yorkshire for which Marcus wrote the screenplay. 

“Marcus’s vision for Pilot has been evident in everything we’ve done, from the intimate and technically dazzling film The Knife That Killed Me, to the sweeping scale of the epic promenade through York in WWI, Blood + Chocolate, to the nationwide tour of the much-praised Roy Williams treatment of Antigone.  The same collaborative and inventive spirit informs the contribution Marcus has made to the national cultural debate through Shift Happens and No Boundaries, and recently the work he has been doing for York as a UNESCO City of Media Arts,” comments Chris Bailey, Chair of Trustees for Pilot Theatre.

Pilot Theatre’s trustees have been working with Marcus for some time to ensure that the transition to a new creative leadership looks towards the future, building on his work.

Marcus will carry on with new projects on a freelance basis following his departure from Pilot in March, as well as continuing his work with York’s UNESCO team. 

ENDS

For further media information, please contact:

Jay Commins

PRO – Pilot Theatre

Tel: 01904 500698

Email: jay@pyperyork.co.uk