The Theatre du Châtelet in Paris has appointed its first female artistic director, The New York Times reports. Ruth Mackenzie will be taking over for Jean-Luc Choplin, who has served as artistic director since 2004. Mackenzie is the first woman to take on the position since the theater opened in 1862.

Mackenzie is currently the director of the Holland Festival, a position she’s held since 2015. She’ll continue in that role until 2018 while the Châtelet undergoes a two-year renovation. She was the director of London’s Cultural Olympiad in 2012, has been the general director of Scottish Opera; artistic director, with Steven Pimlott and Martin Duncan, of the Chichester Festival Theater; general director of the Manchester International Festival; and a consultant dramaturg at the Vienna Festival.

Under Choplin, the Times writes, the Châtelet “moved away from classical music and dance productions to became a hub for American musicals,” with such productions as “Kiss Me, Kate,” “Singin’ in the Rain,” “42nd Street,” and “An American in Paris,” which transferred to Broadway and will open in London in March. But Mackenzie is looking towards new ideas.

“I am interested in inventing new popular forms, whether with pop stars or classical composers or choreographers, whether on stage or on the internet,” she said of her plans. “Châtelet has always been an innovator, since the 19th-century search for new forms of opera, to Diaghilev and Stravinsky, William Forsythe and contemporary pop operas like Damon Albarn’s ‘Monkey: Journey to the West.’ It’s as special to Paris as the Eiffel Tower,” she said of the theatre. “I want it to house work that is original, new and sets the trend.”

Mackenzie’s first season will begin in September, 2019.