OUR LAGUNA: Welcoming the new Playhouse manager

Laguna Playhouse board members and supporters welcomed Karen Wood into the fold at a reception Sunday evening at Tivoli Too.

Wood was named managing director in December, after a national search to fill the position.

“I actually was recruited,” Wood said. “The board hired a search firm and [two rep- resentatives] called me.

“They said we know you are not looking to move, but the needs of the Playhouse and your skill set are complimentary.”

The selection process took about four months, Wood said.

Laguna Playhouse Search Committee Chairman Richard Schweikert, board President Andrew Donchak, board members Sindi Schwartz and Laura Rohl,and Artistic Director Andrew Barnicle were assisted by Jessica Andrews and Jim Voltz of Consultants for the Arts in the search to replace Richard Stein, who abruptly quit as executive director last June after 17 years with the Playhouse.

“Applicants were interviewed by the committee, which selected the finalists,” board member Joan Gladstone said. “Then the board listened to the finalists’ presentation. The board approved the final selection and Karen was approached. I think she will be a good fit.

“And I think Andy [Barnicle] will blossom. Although his position has never changed, their roles are clearly defined. He has artistic control. Karen is responsible for operations.”

Barnicle said at the Leadership Luncheon in January, where representatives of community groups and businesses recapped their major achievement of 2007 and announced their top goal for this year, that his top accomplishment was hiring a new managing director for the Playhouse and he aimed never to have to repeat the process.

Wood seconded Barnicle’s goal.

“I am here for the long run,” Wood said.

Arts Commissioner Pat Kollenda was president of the Playhouse board when Stein was selected. She heartily endorsed the selection of Wood.

“Karen is charming and is eager to be involved in the community, to be part of this lovely town,” Kollenda. “She will be a huge asset.”

Wood comes to the Playhouse from San Diego Repertory Theatre. Before that she served as managing director of the Music Center Education Division in Los Angeles, general manager of the John Anson Ford Theatre through the County Arts Commission of Los Angeles and general manager of the Mark Taper Forum/Center Theatre Group of Los Angeles.

The San Diego theater has two stages, one for an audience of 550 and the other, depending on configuration, that can accommodate 264. It has been a long-time dream of Playhouse administrators and supporters to create a second stage, to complement the 420-seat Main Stage at the Moulton Theatre for more avant-garde (for lack of a better phrase) productions. They have bought a couple of buildings for that purpose, but have never been able to raise sufficient funds. Wood will be involved in the effort.

“In my role as managing director, I will be involved in all things Laguna Playhouse,” she said.

First up: getting to know the community and filling vacancies in the staff.

“The board thought it would be nice to have the new director on board for the staffing,” Wood said.

Wood began her third week on the job Monday. She moved to Laguna two weeks ago last Friday and started full-time the following Monday. She is still unpacking. Wood was a student of Dwight Richard Odle at Cal State Fullerton.

“Karen was in one of my first theater management classes,” gloated Odle, designer for the Playhouse for about 11 years. “She got to the point where she needed to go on to an advanced degree and she went to UCLA.

“We always said we were going to catch up, but a couple of decades have slipped by.”

Among the guests at the reception: Playhouse board members Bill Gaboury, Henry Mayhew, Jim and Suzanne Mellor; Arts Commissioner Mary Ferguson; Laguna College of Art & Design President Dennis Power;and Ron Schwartz, all of whom also attended the Southern California premiere of “Red Herring,” written by Michael Hollinger. Hollinger flew in from Philadelphia with his wife, Megan, daughter, Willa, and son Benjamin for the opening night.

First nighters included Faye and Festival of Arts President Wayne Baglin, who had previously met Wood at an Arts Alliance meeting.

“We are really fortunate to have such a professional and delightful person joining our arts community,” he said.

Laguna Beach Visitors and Conference Bureau President Karyn Philippsen and Executive Director Judy Bijlani also met Wood at an alliance meeting. “It was good to reconnect,” said Philippsen, who attended the reception, as well as the premiere.

Also at the premiere: former Playhouse Development staffer and a former candidate for city clerk, Elaine Smith, Exchange Club member Katie Moss, Friends of the Library and Laguna Beach Taxpayers Assn. President Martha Lydick and Festival of Arts board member Steve Dicterow, who escorted his daughter, Taryn, home from UC Davis, where she is majoring in drama and political science.

Opening night festivities included the raffle for a two-year lease of a Lexis automobile. The winner will be announced May 3, at the annual gala at the Montage Resort & Spa. Author and Playwright Mitch Albom will be the honored guest.

Playhouse board Secretary Ilona Martin and board member Schwartz will chair the event. Table reservations are being taken now. For more information, call Laura Wolf at (949) 497-2787, ext. 225.

The gala is being billed as the 87th. The Playhouse was founded in 1920, just a couple years after the Laguna Beach Art Association was founded and seven years before the city was incorporated. It is one of the oldest continuously-operating theaters on the West Coast. It first opened as an amateur venue that has matured into a nonprofit professional theater with an annual budget of more than $6 million, and became a member of the League of Resident Theatres and a constituent of the national Theatre Communications Group. More than 100,000 theater-goers annually attend Playhouse performances.

OUR LAGUNA is a regular feature of the Laguna Beach Coastline Pilot. Contributions are welcomed. Write to Barbara Diamond, P.O. Box 248, Laguna Beach, 92652; hand-deliver to Suite 22 in the Lumberyard, 384 Forest Ave.; call (949) 494-4321 or fax (949) 494-8979.