Copious Notes

The managing director of Actors Guild of Lexington, Kimberly Shaw, is leaving the theater to become the stage manager of a production that will tour Europe through 2010.

Kimberly Shaw. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

Her departure leaves the embattled troupe with its top two management posts vacant and only one full-time employee remaining.

Although her departure comes at the end of a summer that saw the theater tumble into financial turmoil, the Lexington native says her resignation is not because of Actors Guild’s troubles.

“I had a meeting with the board’s executive committee Friday afternoon that was very productive and we were excited about some of the plans we were making,” said Shaw, who came to the theater in Sept. 2008 and had previously worked for the theater at Princeton University, the Royal Shakespeare Company and the New York International Fringe festival. “Then, out of the blue, I got this offer and it was personally and financially hard to turn down.”

Shaw said she is joining a show called India. It is a production of Franco Dragone Entertainment, which has produced shows such as Celine Dion in Las Vegas.

“It’s a sad loss for AGL,” said board president Jennifer Miller. “But I cannot say enough good things about Kim, and we could not possibly resent her for taking this amazing opportunity.”

With Shaw’s leaving and the departure of artistic director Richard St. Peter in August, Actors Guild now has only one full-time staffer left: associate artistic director Eric Ryan Seale.

Actors Guild produced a season-opening production — the Rodgers and Hart revue Beguiled Again, which closed earlier this month — but the theater has not announced any further productions.

Miller said the theater will be making some announcements about its future, including upcoming productions, soon.

Shaw said she is confident “the theater is poised to make it.

“The board is ready to answer the tough questions. It’s been a rough summer for AGL, but through that process, people have come on board and the staff is committed to work.”

. . . to tell it what you want from local theater.

Actors Guild of Lexington has undertaken a set of public meetings to get input from members of the arts  community and the community in general as it moves forward from several crises.

Kimberly Shaw is the managing director of Actors Guild of Lexington. Photo by Rich Copley | LexGo.com.

The meetings started Monday and will continue from 6 to 7:30 p.m. Wednesday (Sept. 2) in conference room B on the fourth floor of the Central Branch of the Lexington Public Library. The other two meetings are at 6-7:30 p.m. Sept. 8 and 10 at a location yet to be announced.

Each meeting will be attended by AGL managing director Kimberly Shaw, associate artistic director Eric Seale and board president Jennifer Miller. They are trying to limit the guests to 10 each meeting to give everyone a chance to talk and be heard. That’s probably a good idea as larger gatherings in the wakes of other theater crises the in the past decade or so have resulted in fairly pointless excercises. According to at least one account, the initial meeting on Monday night went well.

Actors Guild is in the midst of a turbulent time. In June, LexArts announced it would not extend the theater an allocation for general operating funds — a contribution that has been around $70,000 the past several years — and the theater was already struggling with a significant financial crisis. Then, in August, the theater’s artistic director, Richard St. Peter, announced he was leaving to pursue a doctorate in theater.

So, AGL is trying to dig out of a hole and start the search for a new AD. But, before getting too far down that road, the theater leadership wants to get a handle on how the community is feeling, hear what it wants out of one of Lexington’s leading theaters, and even get some ideas.

If you want to get in on a chat, contact Miller at jenniferbethmiller@insightbb.com. Miller has also said she and the staff are open to private conversations and meetings.

Meanwhile, St. Peter has started a blog. The stated purposed of the journal is to discuss the 127 plays he says he needs to read in pursuing his Ph.D. He seems to be a speedy reader and writer already on play 2: David Mamet’s Oleanna.

In his intro, he briefly discusses his experiences as, “Artistic Director of a small pseudo-professional theatre in a town that didn’t really want or need professional theatre.”

Scenic designer Nicola Riggs watches as director Eric Seale discusses the set for Actors Guild of Lexington's production of Martin McDonagh's The Pillowman. Copyrighted LexGo photo by Rich Copley.

If seeing posters around town and the article in tomorrow’s paper about Actors Guild of Lexington’s new show makes you think, “Didn’t they just close a show?” the answer is yes they did.

Sunday.

Monday afternoon, the lovely, woody newspaper office of Constant Star was already gone, and technical director Scott Sherman and his crew were quickly working to change the stage over into the interrogation room and a rooftop for the new production of Martin McDonagh’s The Pillowman, which opens Friday. Help for the quick change came all the way from England, as set designer Nicola Riggs flew in from London over the weekend and was applying green tiles to the stage floor.

First time AGL director Eric Seale, the company’s associate artistic director, says Pillowman is the first Actors Guild show to be staged with such a quick turnaround. Seale says the fast turnaround was putting a little stress on the staff, but he expected the stage to be good to go for opening night.

Read more about Seale and Pillowman in tomorrow’s Herald-Leader and at LexGo.com.