Like so many in theater, Dan Martin wanted to be an actor. “But I wasn’t talented enough, and I was too … .” He pauses long enough to offer a wry smile and a glance at his 6’8’’ stature. “… Big.” Yet an idealistic vision of what the arts can achieve burned within him, and he saw his future in the theater, if not on the stage.

In 1985, his idealism brought him to the position of managing director of the Virginia Stage Company and soon to a moment that he characterizes as one of the most satisfying in his career. His artistic director proposed a stage production of J.P. Donleavy’s Beastly Beatitudes of Balthazar B. Staging the work is challenging under any circumstances, and in this particular case the company faced funding obstacles and much external skepticism. Martin summarizes the situation succinctly: “It had everything going against it.”

Yet the artistic team was committed to the production, and Martin felt that if they had that level of commitment, then he had to find a way to make it work. Opening night arrived, audiences came by the hundreds, and the show was one of the theaters greatest successes in its history. “I knew that we had done the right thing.”

The production exemplified exactly what Martin believes the arts should do: take risks, stretch beyond the comfortable and the familiar, and explore challenging subjects. Art, in his opinion, is about who we are and where we are going, and so it must always be looking for something more. This level of conviction and the will to support artists—the will to do what people say “won’t work”—have motivated Martin, even in his most exhausting moments.

Martin joined the Carnegie Mellon faculty in 1992. He was recently named dean of the  College of Fine Arts (after serving in an interim capacity for the past two years). Martin still yearns to support artistic creativity and exploration. He makes a point to attend student performances and exhibitions from the five schools within the college. To his delight, he often sees students pressing boundaries. “That’s what we should be doing,” he says, “providing students with the opportunity to take risks!”
—Andrew Swensen (adjunct faculty)

Related Links:
Carnegie Mellon Names Dan J. Martin Dean of it's College of Fine Arts