Lawrence Zucker will step down as executive director of Town Hall at the end of the year.
Zucker joined the leadership team at Town Hall in 1978 and guided the venue through a significant renovation and troubling fiscal times. He also helped implement some of the venue’s long-running series that feature Broadway and cabaret, among other genres.
He will be succeeded by Ted Lambert as interim executive director, who currently serves as Town Hall’s chief operating officer. Plans for a search for a permanent executive director have not been announced.
Town Hall, while not a Broadway house, is known to host a variety of industry events and concerts, including Broadway by the Year, Seth Rudetsky’s Broadway and Broadway Rising Stars. The Times Square venue was also home to the Drama Desk Awards from 2012–2019.
But the venue’s theatrical history runs deep. Numerous influential figures who have become the subject of Broadway shows, including the von Trapp family choir and Billie Holiday, have taken the Town Hall stage in the decades since it opened in January 1921.
In a statement, Zucker said, “I am proud of the work and what I accomplished over all these years and I leave knowing that the organization that we built, is and will be recognized, loved and appreciated by everyone who works on and attends the programs. And especially by me.”
