When theatres change artistic leaders, actors sometimes feel the ground beneath them is a bit shaky. If the new artistic directors are from elsewhere, actors who have been fixtures on the local scene for years find they need to make themselves known. On the other hand, if an actor has been struggling fruitlessly to get a foot in the door of a particular theatre, new leadership could mean new opportunities.
In the San Francisco Bay Area over the past two years, five major regional theatres, plus several small but important companies, have undergone staff changes. At San Jose Repertory Theatre, Rick Lombardo recently took over for Timothy Near, who left to pursue other projects; she'd run the 28-year-old company for two decades and essentially put it on the map. Lombardo has been the artistic director of Boston's New Repertory Theatre for the past 12 years.
Similarly, longtime Marin Theatre Company artistic director Lee Sankowich — who, like Near, is in his early 60s and who'd brought his company to wide public attention — left two years ago to pursue other projects; Jasson Minadakis, most recently artistic director of Actor's Express Theatre Company in Atlanta, replaced him.
Raelle Myrick-Hodges was hired a year ago at the feminist company Brava! For Women in the Arts in San Francisco to take over when founding artistic director Ellen Gavin left to pursue a screenwriting career in Los Angeles. Myrick-Hodges, who co-founded Azuka Theatre in Philadelphia, previously directed Rust at the Magic Theatre and has been in and out of the Bay Area for many years, so she's not a complete stranger to the talent pool. She has been directing nationally.
Longtime artistic director Paul Whitworth turned over his post at Shakespeare Santa Cruz to Marco Barricelli, former actor with American Conservatory Theater; Barricelli recently finished his first summer season at the Santa Cruz helm.
And the venerable new-works company Magic Theatre in San Francisco has seen a disproportionate amount of artistic and administrative turnover lately. Most recently the 41-year-old company replaced Chris Smith, after five years' tenure, with Loretta Greco, a nationally known figure who has directed at the Magic and also at American Conservatory Theater. Smith is currently directing elsewhere locally.
Among the smaller organizations, Crowded Fire founding artistic director Rebecca Novick left to pursue freelance gigs (most recently opening the Magic's new season with The K of D); ensemble member Cassie Beck and her husband, director Kent Nicholson, stepped in. But not long afterward, Beck found herself with a burgeoning New York acting career, and the team resigned, so ensemble member Marissa Wolf took the reins. In the East Bay, the 65-year-old Town Hall Theatre Company continued on the track toward professionalism when Kevin Morales left to pursue a New York career and was replaced by local professional actor Clive Worsley.
The Name of the Game
The shakeup has some veteran actors on edge. "Is there something in the water?" jokes Stacy Ross. "It's always very unsettling, actually," says Wanda McCaddon. "You spend a lot of your life making sure you're known to a director even if they're not using you. So you feel, here I go, starting from the ground up. The continuity is broken." But artistic directors who resign often stay in the Bay Area as freelancers, so actor-director relationships that have been built up over time are certainly not wasted.
McCaddon and others agree that new blood — and in some cases a younger generation of leaders — is ultimately a good thing. Says Ross, "If Timmy [Near] wants to move on, it's good for the Rep; you don't want someone there who doesn't want to be there anymore." One actor even suggested maybe it's time for Tony Taccone to continue his career in New York and leave Berkeley Repertory Theatre to Les Waters.
The incoming artistic directors are making an effort to scout out the talent. At San Jose Rep, for example, Lombardo has already held an open call (which he intends to have annually) and also plans to see a lot of local theatre, large and small. Unfamiliar with the local scene, he knows that white culture is not the majority in the area, and he wants to reflect that on stage. He believes in diversity not just in casting but at the level of play selection. Read: more work for nonwhite actors. He also professes a commitment to "working with artists who put down roots in particular regions."
At Marin Theatre Company, the North Bay's only LORT company, Minadakis plans to stage more world premieres. Like Lombardo, his first priority is to cast locally, but he also wants to dip into the Los Angeles pool a little more and expects occasionally to cast in Chicago and New York — not welcome news to Bay Area actors, even though all big theatres in the region do some out-of-town casting. Comments one actor, "Marin Theatre had fallen into a complacent mode. It doesn't feel like that anymore. Jasson is younger, a different generation from Lee. He's got a lot of energy; he's a builder, a shaker. That's good."
Perhaps the most new opportunities are at Brava. During Gavin's tenure, the organization produced plays infrequently, but Myrick-Hodges has programmed a full season that includes eight plays, two of them premieres by local playwrights. She has also opened the theatre's second stage, where she is now directing Kobo Abe's absurdist Friends — with a non-Equity cast of 14, of various ethnicities. Myrick-Hodges plans for the second stage to eventually go Equity.
Cathleen Riddley, who has acted at Brava, the Magic, and Marin Theatre over the years, is pleased with the arrival of Myrick-Hodges. "It's especially exciting that the leadership is an African-American woman," says Riddley, who expects to see more opportunities for African-American actors like herself at Brava.
At some Bay Area theatres, new young artistic directors have turned around their theatre's fortunes, for the better. Jonathan Moscone at California Shakespeare Theater, which annually hires a good-sized company for its summer season, is one such example.
Despite having to prove themselves to a host of new artistic directors these days — and in some cases, new-to-the-area casting directors along with them — actors have a reason to feel optimistic. Says one, "I don't want to have to deal with [longtime artistic directors] until they drop dead. Bring on the new millennium!"
Write to the author at jeanschiff@earthlink.net.