R. Kent Knutson is responsible for operation and management of the Arts Center on 7. As artistic director of the center he divides his time between his directing both high school and the Minnetonka community theatre and managing the Arts Center staff and overseeing the cultural opportunities this great center provides.

Knutson is an award winning director with 37 years experience. He has directed and produced over two hundred successful shows and has written and published numerous original works. Knutson, with his wife Debby and children Rob and Katy moved to Minnetonka to take over the theatre in 2002. Since that time the theatre program has grown and is recognized as one of the premier high school acting programs in the country. Minnetonka High school has earned top recognition from the Hennepin Trusts Spotlight awards program every year since the inception of the awards program for each of its entered musical productions. These include “Once On This Island. “Jekyll and Hyde” “Blood Brothers”, and “South Pacific” all named “Best Overall Production of a Musical” Minnetonka has won the region 6AA One Act Play Championship 5 times under Knutson and received a starred performance in the state tournament each of those 5 years. This is the highest award given by the State High School League for excellence in theatrical performance. In 2007 Minnetonka won the right to travel to Edinburgh, Scotland and perform its award winning production of Les Misérable at the Edinburgh Fringe Festival. The show was critically acclaimed and sold out every performance setting a box office record for the American High School Theatre Festival. Minnetonka has been invited to return to the festival. The community theatre started under Knutson produces three shows per year and now hires several equity actors in each production taking the Minnetonka Theatre to another high level of excellence. The theatre also, with the help of the city of Minnetonka; produces an outdoor musical yearly at the cities amphitheatre in July. The grounds are filled with families taking advantage of these free performances. Hundreds of community members participate in the community theatre’s productions each year and the shows play too sold out audiences constantly. It is the goal of both the high school and community theatre to provide a world class product at a family friendly price.

Knutson’s students have been recruited by and attend some of the nation’s most prestigious colleges and universities each year. He has students performing on Broadway as well as performing in classrooms, boardrooms, churches or wherever the skills developed on the stages and in the classrooms he has worked have taken his kids.