Every founder has a unique personal tie to the organization they bring to life. After 28 years of daily interaction with the Shotgun Players, Patrick Dooley and the theater he created can be hard to define as separate entities. Thanks to the O2 Sabbatical Award, Dooley will get a chance to discover that distinction with a well-earned break.
Shotgun Players Board President Jo Golub notes: "Despite being such a central and essential core of the organization, Patrick has also been dedicated to allowing the organization to grow and define itself beyond his own vision for it. The staff, board, and company members who have dedicated themselves to Shotgun all play a role in its artistry, its business, and its future."
The O2 Sabbatical Award honors the commitment and accomplishments of exceptional nonprofit leaders in the Bay Area by supporting a three-month break for executive directors. O2 Initiatives is committed to supporting those who have tirelessly dedicated their lives to igniting positive change. Sabbaticals recharge high-performing executive directors and advance leadership capacity throughout their organizations. The result is stronger leaders, smarter teams, and more resilient organizations.
Research and experience show that a sabbatical has the power to be a life-changing experience for leaders, as well as a transformational experience for the organizations they lead.
Who will be running the show while Dooley is off recharging? Shotgun's executive leadership team includes Managing Director Liz Hitchcock Lisle, Development Director Joanie McBrien, and Production Manager Hanah Zahner-Isenberg, three women with a collective 46 years of work history with the company. "We're going to spend the summer looking at our systems and work culture around the theater," says Lisle, "it's an exciting time for us to see what it feels like to run an organization according to our own logic, and to stand behind our own decisions. In a small staff situation, having any core employee out for an extended period is tough, but we're more than ready for the challenge, and hope to welcome Patrick back with a host of new ideas and fresh perspectives."
Shotgun has a bold season line-up this summer starting with a production of
Kill Move Paradise (July 5-Aug 4), written by
James Ijames, directed by Darryl V. Jones, and designed by the most diverse creative team to come on the scene at Ashby Stage. Next up is
Annie Baker's Pulitzer Prize winner
The Flick (Aug 22-Sept 22), directed by Susannah Martin, which follows young movie theater workers in a real-time quest for connection and self-realization.
In 1992, Patrick Dooley founded Shotgun Players to make great theatre accessible to the wider community. More than 28 years later, Shotgun Players continues to deliver on that vision, staging bold, ambitious performances that are affordable for all ages, while also launching the careers of working and young artists and nurturing the next generation of theatre-lovers. Each year, more than 100 local artists create six main stage productions. Shotgun Players also advances social justice through the power of the creative arts, challenging audiences to reexamine their lives and the world around them. Shotgun is recognized by the arts community as punching way above its weight in terms of artistic risk and engagement of its Berkeley community.
Patrick is a bold, visionary leader who has transformed Shotgun Players from a small, scrappy grassroots theatre company into a highly-respected cultural organization that's here to stay. In 2004, he secured the Ashby Stage as a permanent home for Shotgun Players, and three years later made it the first fully solar-powered theatre in America.
Having run Shotgun Players for more than half his life, Patrick says, "It feels like an important time to step back, take stock, and imagine what could possibly be in store for this next leg of my journey." During his sabbatical, he plans to spend time with his family, traveling abroad with his wife and three young daughters. He's also excited about the opportunity to distribute leadership responsibilities among Shotgun's dynamic team during his absence.
"I look forward to returning with a new perspective that will spark more creativity," Patrick says. "We're producing work that is way beyond the expectations for a theater of our size, and nothing engages me more than doing what others say is impossible."
Dooley says, "First, my job isn't to come up with the best ideas. It's to create a space for those ideas to come to light and then champion them. In the early days, it seemed so important to have answers worked out in advance of every dilemma. By making room for others to engage, I find they also become more invested in making sure those ideas came to fruition."
"While I founded this organization, it is not mine. I am its custodian, not its owner. The most important thing I can do right now is make space for the next generation of leaders and support a positive, dynamic, artistically rigorous work culture."
