Through a shared leadership structure, The Magic is poised to strengthen its legacy as a home for groundbreaking new work while expanding its role as a year-round cultural hub for artists and audiences alike. Sarah Nina Hayon will serve as the new Artistic Director, Daniel Duque-Estrada as the Producing Director, and Joan Osato as Director of Sustainability and Growth.
Deeply rooted in both The Magic Theatre and the Bay Area arts community, they represent a combination of artistic excellence, entrepreneurial leadership, and deep community engagement, with decades of experience creating, producing, developing, and championing transformative work. Just as important, they share a longstanding commitment to The Magic's success as a vital home for Bay Area artists—a place where bold new work takes shape, and artistic communities can thrive.
Sarah Nina Hayon, a celebrated actor in the Bay Area and New York, was recently seen as Lady Macbeth in the Magic Theatre’s production of Macbeth and alongside John Leguizamo at the Public Theatre in New York. Hayon is a three time Drama Desk nominee and long-time collaborating artist at the Magic Theatre, starting with multiple new works during former Artistic Director Loretta Greco’s tenure and including her time as a former Board Member. She brings years of experience developing and championing new work with writers across New York and the Bay Area. Hayon’s vision expands programming beyond theatre and builds partnerships with theaters nationwide to co-produce and develop new work.
Sarah Nina Hayon - Artistic Director
Daniel Duque-Estrada has been one of the theatre’s featured actors in recent years, most recently as the title character in Luis Alfaro’s Aztlan. Throughout the last five years, while concurrently developing new work with writers, Duque-Estrada has also become the theatre’s Producing Director, working closely with San José in multiple aspects of leading the Magic. Duque-Estrada brings a breadth of experience, having worked extensively as an actor, administrator, and educator in theatres across the country, as well as establishing his own independent bookstore, Rosa Blanca Books, in El Sobrante, California. He brings a focused, multi-tiered approach to theatre as an organization and a play making space.
Daniel Duque Estrada - Producing Director
Joan Osato has decades of experience running, envisioning, and stewarding multiple arts organizations through survival, transition, rejuvenation and expansion. Osato will be key to sustaining the Magic Theatre, bringing decades of non-profit artistic leadership experience that includes the Asian American Theatre, more than 25 years with Youth Speaks, the creation of her own companies, commissioning and touring, and running Campo Santo for more than a decade. Like Hayon and Duque-Estrada, Osato is also a longtime artistic collaborator at the Magic Theatre, having created original video design and more for multiple projects these past years.