Capital Stage Founding Artistic Director Stephanie Gularte to Step Down After 2013-14 Season

Capital Stage founding artistic director, Stephanie Gularte, has announced that the company's 2013-14 season will be her last as artistic director.

"This has been a very difficult decision. Capital Stage has really been my life's work and I will always consider it to be my artistic home," Gularte said.

"But with Capital Stage settled in and thriving in its new midtown home it feels like the time is right for me to move into the next phase of my professional and creative life," Gularte said.

Gularte founded the professional theatre company, along with Peter Mohrmann and JoNathan Williams, in 2005 after five years as the artistic director of the Delta King Theatre. Under her leadership, Capital Stage has become one of the premier professional theatres in the Capitol Region, producing area premieres of thought-provoking, contemporary plays. In 2011, Gularte led the company through a major gifts campaign and the opening of the company's new midtown theatre on J Street.

Cofounders Williams and Mohrmann will continue their roles with the organization as producing director and associate artist respectively, and will be instrumental in creating continuity under the new leadership.

"Under Stephanie's leadership Capital Stage has developed a very clear identity. We know who we are as an organization. That's not going to change," said Williams.

Mohrmann stated, ""Our success as a professional arts organization is due to Stephanie's determination, courage, and most of all her artistic vision that has changed and challenged Sacramento. The excitement that has surrounded the evolution of Sacramento's "bold, thinking person's theatre," including an exciting move to midtown will now enter its next era with a new leader who will continue expanding on the legacy that has been created."The excitement that has surrounded the evolution of Sacramento's "bold, thinking person's theatre," including an exciting move to midtown will now enter its next era with a new leader who will continue expanding on the legacy that has been created."

The Capital Stage Board of Directors has formed a committee to conduct a national search for the company's next leader and plans to identify Gularte's replacement before the end of 2013. Gularte will be part of the selection committee and plans to work with the new artistic director as part of a transition process that will last through the end of the 2013-14 season.

Board President Clif McFarland said: "We are, of course, sad to hear that Stephanie will be stepping down. But, we also feel incredibly fortunate to have been able to work with Stephanie over these past eight years. This has been an unforgettable chapter in the artistic life of Sacramento. The Capital Stage board is committed to identifying a successor who will continue Stephanie's legacy of strong leadership and exceptional artistic vision."

Gularte will remain on the Cap Stage Board of Directors.

Reflecting on the past eight years, Gularte said:

"It has been an amazing journey and incredibly satisfying to be a part of the evolution of Capital Stage from an unknown little theatre company performing on a riverboat to an established, critically acclaimed professional arts organization."

Gularte concluded: "I feel like I have other life projects in me and I'm ready to get started on those. Is there a perfect time to move on? I don't know. Is there a perfect time to have children; or get married; or retire? People struggle with those decisions all the time. But for me, this feels like the right time. I have no doubt that Capital Stage will continue to develop and thrive under the fresh energy of a new leader. I look forward to looking on with pride at what's to come."

Capital Stage Company's mission is to be a dynamic leader in the evolution of the contemporary live theatre landscape in the Capital region and to passionately engage audiences in the art of live storytelling with bold, innovative plays performed by professional artists, in an intimate, up close setting. With a strong commitment to expanding the base of working artists in the greater Sacramento region, we shall develop a company of actors, directors, writers, designers, and technical staff who are dedicated to bringing bold, lively productions of contemporary and classic plays to our community.

While part of the mission of any theater company is to entertain its audience, we at Capital Stage feel strongly that the productions we mount address issues that are vital to understanding the society we live in and ourselves as human beings in that society. We address themes of power and manipulation in relationships between men and women, children and parents, and organizations and individuals. We invite audiences to question the ethics and meaning of art, the definitions of sanity and intelligence, and the line between exploitation and legitimate relationship. We believe that in a large and growing urban environment, where individuals and groups are constantly bombarded with information and demands for decisions, the need for thoughtful examination of our interactions in society has never been greater.

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