Christie Brown’s 25 plus years of arts experience is grounded in her commitment to supporting artists and organizations that feed the future of the field. Her background encompasses new play development and production dramaturgy; artist advocacy and literary management; directing fundraising initiatives; and for the last several years, nonprofit management in finance and HR, working in close partnership with her career-long mentor Joel K. Ruark.
Christie’s career as a mainstage and new play dramaturg launched at Arena Stage in Washington, D.C. She managed agent offices at ICM New York and Los Angeles, assisting leading literary agents in theatre, film, and television. As an organizational advocate, she managed the annual fund for Arlington, VA’s Signature Theatre while Signature successfully ran an ambitious $16M capital campaign to construct a dual-use public arts space in Shirlington. She was part of the highly successful fundraising team for the College of Arts and Humanities at the University of Maryland, which perennially exceeds its campaign goals to strengthen its degree-granting departments, culturally focused interdisciplinary institutes, art museums, and the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center.
Christie’s service to New Dramatists is the centerpiece of her career; she’s held multiple management positions at the org and holds a deep understanding of the organization’s mission and operations. She began her 15-year tenure as the organization’s Literary Director (a position she was delighted to see subsequently filled by now-Artistic Director Emily Morse). Her desire to support New Dramatists’ strength and longevity led her to accept a position as its primary fundraiser in July 2001; she was part of the management team that helped the organization navigate the tumultuous funding environment post 9/11 in New York City. She also helped New Dramatists secure seed funding to launch PlayTime, its illustrious play development studio that has cradled numerous play and musical projects from inception to full realization. Her second tenure at New Dramatists showcased her fundraising leadership as a development director and major gift officer, when she oversaw several six figure grant awards and the organization’s first seven figure planned gift. In the role of Finance and HR Director, she was a central part of the senior management team that guided New Dramatists through the COVID-19 pandemic crisis, and into the current COVID-era realities of safely developing and presenting theatrical work in person.
As a freelance artist, Christie’s production dramaturgy, educational dramaturgy, and guest lecturing credits include projects and assignments with the Shakespeare in DC Festival, the Source Theatre Festival, KC-ACTF at the Kennedy Center, Catholic University, UTexas-Austin, the Valdez Theatre Conference, and the University of Maryland. She was particularly honored to assist theatrical legend Zelda Fichandler (Founding Director, Arena Stage) as a dramaturgical consultant, as Zelda wrote several of her final essays and developed the TCG-published collection of her written work (The Long Revolution, release date, fall 2023).
Christie holds dual degrees in Theatre Arts (Juniata College) and Psychology (University of Maryland/University College). She is a past President of Juniata College's Alumni Association. She is the proud partner of her husband, actor/professor/author Gary Sloan, and parent to Julia and Owen Sloan.