Anne Kauffman on the Dream Job She Didn't Know She Wanted

Theatre Development Fund – TDF: When Michael Friedman, the former artistic director of New York City Center's Encores! Off-Center, invited his longtime collaborator and friend Anne Kauffman to direct Assassins two summers ago, neither one had any idea of the journey being set in motion. After Friedman died unexpectedly that September, Kauffman agreed to temporarily help Encores! Off-Center's founder, Jeanine Tesori, get through the next season. Then last fall, Kauffman was announced as the artistic director of the series, which revives underappreciated Off-Broadway musicals for limited-run, stripped-down stagings. Yet she can't recall exactly how that happened.