About

Chad Rabinovitz is an artistic leader, producer, and director who has spent more than two decades building theaters, developing new work, creating innovative live experiences, and bringing audiences together.

He currently serves as Artistic Director and co-founder of Constellation Stage & Screen in Bloomington, Indiana, a $2 million multidisciplinary arts organization created through the merger of Bloomington Playwrights Project, Cardinal Stage, and Pigasus Institute. Chad helped lead the merger and creation of the new company and now oversees its artistic vision and an eight-production season balancing new work with established plays, musicals, and family-friendly theater.

Over his career, Chad has produced more than 300 professional productions and directed more than 100. His work has ranged from intimate new plays to major musicals, children’s theater, national tours, magic shows, film, and interactive entertainment.

New work has been a defining part of Chad’s career. He has developed and produced more than 100 new plays and musicals, with many going on to major regional theaters, Off-Broadway, publication, licensing, and productions around the world. Recent examples include Arun Lakra’s Heist, which Chad conceived and commissioned before it went on to generate millions in ticket sales through productions across North America, and The Life & Slimes of Marc Summers, which Chad developed, directed, and produced before directing its four-month Off-Broadway run at New World Stages, where it earned an Off-Broadway Alliance Award nomination. Other recent successes from works Chad developed include Nikola, now heading to Arena Stage; Loch Ness, heading to Two River Theater; Beau, which recently received a critically acclaimed Off-Broadway run; Island Song, now licensed by Concord Theatricals and produced internationally; Finn, heading to Atlantic Theater Company in New York and published by Concord Theatricals; and Kalamazoo, published by Concord Theatricals and produced more than 30 times in the U.S. and internationally.

Before Constellation, Chad spent 13 years as Producing Artistic Director of Bloomington Playwrights Project, transforming a theater approaching a six-figure accumulated deficit into a debt-free, nationally recognized new-work organization with a $250,000 reserve. Subscriptions grew fivefold, the company purchased and renovated its permanent home, and every performance of every production sold out for five straight years.

For six seasons, Chad served as Producing Artistic Director of Adirondack Theatre Festival in Glens Falls, New York, while continuing to lead Bloomington Playwrights Project in Indiana—making him the only Producing Artistic Director in the country simultaneously running two professional new-play theaters. He eliminated ATF’s approximately $100,000 accumulated deficit, built a $350,000 reserve, more than doubled annual attendance from approximately 5,700 to 13,000, and tripled subscriptions. He also founded the Adirondack Film Festival, growing it into a nationally recognized festival presenting more than 100 films annually and ranked among FilmFreeway’s Top 10 most popular film festivals.

Chad’s work increasingly extends beyond traditional theater. He has developed and directed magic with Penn & Teller, World Champions of Magic Simon Coronel and Shoot Ogawa, Max Major, and Academy of Magical Arts Magician of the Year Zabrecky. He developed and directed the national tour of Penn & Teller’s Foolers, directed the touring Jokers of Magic, and currently serves as Creative Director for a new purpose-built magic theater and lounge being developed for a major international cruise line.

He also created the Taste-A-Long, an interactive movie experience synchronized with custom taste boxes that is currently touring theaters across the U.S. During the COVID shutdown, Chad founded In the Box Entertainment, creating interactive at-home theatrical experiences that kept his theaters producing and artists working. The productions were ultimately licensed to 25 theaters around the country, generating a profit—and some much-needed entertainment—during one of the industry’s most difficult periods.

Along the way, Chad has led major facility projects, created education and accessibility programs, raised millions of dollars, and helped build stronger arts communities. At Constellation, he led a $1 million renovation of the John Waldron Arts Center and is currently part of the team developing a new 10,000-square-foot regional production hub serving artists and organizations across Southern Indiana.

His work has been recognized with Bloomington’s Manager of the Year Award, Downtown Revitalization Award, Attraction of the Year Award, Ivy Tech’s Community Partner Award, Bloomington’s 10 Under 40, and Glens Falls’ 20 Under 40. Bloom Magazine featured Chad on its cover, calling him “a visionary artistic director, savvy businessman, and inspirational leader.”

But enough about theater.

Chad is also an entrepreneur who has built two decidedly non-theatrical companies from scratch. He created The Candy Space, an experiential space-themed candy store where guests can literally launch their candy, and founded Space Candy, a freeze-dried candy manufacturing company that sold more than two million bags and reached more than 1,000 retail locations, including the Smithsonian, NASA, Kennedy Space Center, SpaceX, World Market, Six Flags, and Ripley’s Believe It or Not.

He sometimes makes cakes and is a proud graduate of both Adult Space Camp and Advanced Adult Space Camp. His acting résumé peaked with appearances as Cookie Monster and Clifford the Big Red Dog before reaching its inevitable zenith when he played Fisty, a hand-shaped school mascot, in the short film he produced, Rock, Paper, Destiny.

Ultimately, whether he’s building a theater company, directing a new play, developing a magic show, or opening a candy store, Chad is interested in essentially the same thing: creating experiences people want to be part of and making the place where he lives a better place to live.