Maya Roth was appointed Director of Theater at Georgetown last week, ending an unusually exhaustive and protracted search process.

Roth served as interim director of theater for the past year and was not a candidate for the position, but she accepted the position when the search committee’s original choice declined the offer.

“Although we did make an offer to a candidate about whom we were all enthusiastic, we were unable to complete the hire for reasons that had to do with the candidate’s own plans and priorities rather than any dissatisfaction with us,” Alison Hilton, the Wright Family Distinguished Professor of Art History and chair of the Department of Art, Music and Theater who served on the search committee, said in a press release.

The committee then decided to offer the position to Roth.

“As an active scholar, producer and director involved in professional organizations for theater and a central figure in the development of the new Performing Arts Center at Georgetown, she will be able to combine continuity for the theater program with innovative leadership,” Hilton said.

Roth said she was pleased with the appointment and looks forward to developing a strong theater program at Georgetown.

“We have had excellent success in [developing the theater academic program] this year, as demonstrated by our more than doubling the minors in theater, this year from last, and by having two outstanding students in the college pursuing self-designed interdisciplinary majors with theater as a base,” she said.

She also believes that Georgetown will have the resources to offer a theater major within three years.

“Look for emphasis on theater as a liberal art laboratory,” she said. “A discipline that fosters development of the whole person and which emphasizes encounters with self, other, history and culture, ideas and imagination.”