Coy Middlebrook was named artistic director of the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts Friday, expanding the longtime Wallis creative leader’s role to include oversight of artistic programming and education programs.
He will oversee artistic planning and programming, including public performances and GRoW @ The Wallis, the center’s education and lifelong learning programs, according to the Beverly Hills performing arts center.
He will report to Jean Davidson, executive director and CEO of The Wallis.
“Coy brings an extraordinary depth of knowledge about The Wallis and its audiences, along with deep relationships throughout the performing arts nationally and internationally,” Davidson said. “He understands both the artistic possibilities of this institution and the importance of its relationship to our community.”
Middlebrook has been involved with The Wallis since shortly after moving to Los Angeles in 2014 following years of theater work in New York. He directed the family concert “Baseball Swing” and Jason Robert Brown’s “The Trumpet of the Swan” during The Wallis’ inaugural season.
He later joined the programming team and helped bring Deaf West Theatre’s revival of “Spring Awakening,” directed by Michael Arden, to The Wallis before the production transferred to Broadway and received multiple Tony Award nominations, including for best musical revival, officials said.
Middlebrook served as associate artistic director and took on programming responsibilities under former Artistic Director Paul Crewes and former CEO and Executive Director Robert van Leer. He has served as acting chief programming officer since van Leer’s departure in spring 2026.
“The opportunity before us is to think about the audience experience in a much broader way,” Middlebrook said. “A performance can be a beginning rather than an endpoint — a way to open a door to a new artist, a newly discovered impulse to learn a new form of expression. Bringing artistic planning and education together gives us another powerful way to create those connections.”
Middlebrook’s career has included work as a dancer, actor, choreographer, director and producer. A Chico native, he co-founded Chico City Light Opera and later moved to New York, where he worked with a number of theater companies.
His Broadway credits include serving as associate director of “Brooklyn,” “Bonnie and Clyde” and a revival of “Bells Are Ringing.” He has also had a longtime relationship with Deaf West Theatre, including work on its production of “Big River,” which transferred to the Mark Taper Forum and Broadway.
The Wallis opened in 2013 at the site of the former Beverly Hills post office. Its facilities include the 500-seat Bram Goldsmith Theater, the 150-seat Lovelace Studio Theater and spaces used for arts education programs.