Juan Rivera Lebron has been hired to chair the Point Park University Conservatory of Performing Arts’ Department of Theatre, beginning July 1. In addition, the announcement on June 23, 2025, stated that Rivera Lebron will serve as artistic director of the COPA Theatre Company.
Pittsburgh theatergoers may recognize Rivera Lebron from roles in The Animal Kingdom (barebones productions) and Native Gardens and The Wickhams: Christmas at Pemberley (City Theatre). The native of Puerto Rico was serving as a distinguished service professor of business communication and acting at Carnegie Mellon University, before being named to the Point Park leadership role.
“Point Park University’s theater department is among the best in the country, and I’m eager to leverage that reputation and build on it,” Rivera Lebron said in a statement. “The performing arts are ever-changing. We want to provide our students with the tools to realize their unique creative abilities and fully function in the industry.”
“We are thrilled to have Juan join our Conservatory,” said Kiesha Lalama, the interim dean of the School of Theatre, Film and Animation, and executive producer of Point Park’s Pittsburgh Playhouse. “Juan is a supportive and innovative collaborator who we believe is the perfect choice to lead the theater department into a renewed vision for transformation and growth.”
Rivera Lebron has worked on film and television, off-Broadway and extensively in theaters throughout the United States. He earned his BFA at the Carnegie Mellon School of Drama, and his earned graduate degrees in theater, with an emphasis on experiential approaches to the Stanislavsky technique, and in adult organizational learning and leadership from the University of Idaho. He taught business communication at CMU’s Tepper School of Business and online for Cornell University (eCornell).
Rivera Lebron will join Lalama and Gary Kline, associate dean of the School of Theatre, Film and Animation; Andrew Halasz, chair, Department of Film and Animation; and, Michael Campayno, head of musical theater, Department of Theatre.
Rivera Lebron, who will be teaching Acting 1 classes at Point Park, said, “It’s critical that we embrace everything our students will encounter when they leave Point Park and pursue their professional careers,” while building “a supportive student-centered culture of creativity, collaboration and excellence that will bring the legacy of Point Park into new frontiers of artistic innovation.”
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