The national TYA field lost a great leader this month, with the passing of longtime Oregon Children’s Theatre managing director Ross McKeen. McKeen, in partnership with recently retired artistic director Stan Foote, helped lead OCT to become a national driver of new work for young audiences. The strategic partnerships and co-productions they built led to new ways of creating and sharing works for young audiences nationally. His leadership not only impacted the children, families, and school communities of Portland, but rippled out across the entire country. He was known in Oregon arts circles and among TYA colleagues as a smart and capable administrator, an excellent and generous mentor, and a man of keen humor.
Over the past year, Ross became a vital confidante and collaborator across the TYA network, sharing resources and insights for navigating the challenges of the pandemic. “Ross was an incredible leader, and a wise, steady presence among the field’s leadership. I valued his counsel and admired his collaborative spirit,” remarked Jonathan Shmidt Chapman, TYA/USA’s executive director. “He will be missed by so many, and his legacy lives on in the work of OCT and the young people who have been impacted by the programs he championed.”
“Ross was an incredible leader, and a wise, steady presence among the field’s leadership. I valued his counsel and admired his collaborative spirit. He will be missed by so many, and his legacy lives on in the work of OCT and the young people who have been impacted by the programs he championed.”
— Jonathan Shmidt Chapman, Executive Director of TYA/USA
“I count it such a privilege to have worked by his side for a time and to’ve called him a friend. I miss him terribly already. Ross was a gem, a treasured part of Oregon Children’s Theatre, along with a very long list of arts organizations, and Portland itself.”
— Marci Crowson, Artistic Director of Oregon Children's Theatre
Before joining OCT in 2008 he had spent several years as a grant writer and fundraising consultant for several Portland arts organizations, served a year as the first manager of the Oregon Cultural Trust, and spent three years as general manager of Portland Center Stage. Ross understood the artistic side of the business (he was also a musician in a “swell cowboy band” called Bourbon Jockey), which helped him greatly as an administrator. He was a writer of great wit and erudition, as he revealed a dozen or so years ago, during the heyday of blogging, on the sites Mighty Toy Cannon and Culture Shock. OCT’s artistic director and TYA/USA board member Marci Crowson shared, “I count it such a privilege to have worked by his side for a time and to’ve called him a friend. I miss him terribly already. Ross was a gem, a treasured part of Oregon Children’s Theatre, along with a very long list of arts organizations, and Portland itself.”
