Ratio Theatre Company of New Bern has hired Andrea Owens as its new director of development. Owens will be responsible for marketing and audience development for the professional theater company, now in its third season.

Owens, a well-known local entertainer, brings to the company a background in theater performance and production, event marketing and concert promotion. She studied dramatic arts at Emerson College, and music and journalism at the University of Massachusetts in Amherst.

“We are delighted that Andrea offered her skills in marketing and development to Ratio,” said Alan Berger, a managing partner of Ratio Theatre Company. “We’ve been looking for the right individual to take charge of this very important component of our business. Andrea brings a wealth of experience and a thorough understanding of the performing arts environment in New Bern. We could not think of anyone more qualified.”

Owens spent many years performing as an actress in Massachusetts and central New York before beginning her musical career as a jazz singer and songwriter. She was twice a featured performer in the Syracuse Jazz Festival in Syracuse, N.Y., and most recently she was the opening act for the first Eastern Carolina Jazz Cooperative Jazz Fest.

Her most recent theatrical ventures include playing Lady Capulet in The Carolinian Shakespeare Company’s 2008 production of “Romeo and Juliet” and performing in Ratio Theatre Company’s current production of “Side By Side By Sondheim.”

In 2010, Owens produced her original musical “F.I.S.H.,” co-written with her husband Phil Owens with help from Leslie Manning. She met guitarist Phil Owens in the orchestra pit of a community theater in 1983. They released a CD of original music in 2004 and Owens was awarded an "Honorable Mention" from The 2004 John Lennon Songwriting Contest. Her song “One More Pair of Shoes” was recognized by the judges. Owens has worked in New Bern as a sales manager for an event marketing company and as the manager for Habitat for Humanity’s ReSale Store.

“I am thrilled to be joining the Ratio team at this exciting and relatively early point in their evolution,” Owens said. “Regardless of economic trends, the people of New Bern have historically supported local arts, and Ratio Theatre Company is quickly finding its place both figuratively and literally, in the heart of New Bern. I believe the arts uphold American culture, in all its diversity, and I believe New Bern upholds the arts.”

“We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect fit. Andrea shares Ratio’s vision and we welcome her enthusiasm and expertise,” said Joey Infinito, a managing partner of Ratio with Berger.