She succeeds the departing Tim Ranson. When former WTF artistic director Michael Ritchie announced he was leaving the festival, Gersten was one of the top candidates for the post. After Roger Rees was hired for the job, Gersten chose to leave the institution. Naked Angels, founded in 1986, has produced more than one hundred plays in their "Angels In Progress" series, which present plays in the most basic form with very little elements of technical production. Previous works include Laura Cahill's Hysterical Blindness (made into an HBO film), Warren Leight's Side Man (2000 Tony Award winner for Best Play) and Kenneth Lonergan's The Waverly Gallery (later produced at Williamstown Theatre Festival and Second Stage Theatre in New York City.) Recent production include Emily Mann's Meshugah, Stephen Belber's Tape and David Marshall Grant's Snakebit.
