Weston Playhouse Theatre Company Leaders to Pass the Torch After 2018 Season

Weston Playhouse Theatre Company Founding Directors Malcolm Ewen, Tim Fort, and Steve Stettler, celebrating their thirtieth season at the helm of Vermont's oldest professional theatre, have announced that the company's 2018 season will be their last.

In a letter to the award-winning theatre's patrons and company members, the triumvirate celebrated a year marked by record sales, thriving Education and New Works programs, and the September opening of the company's new Second Stage, Weston Playhouse at Walker Farm.

In their words, "Recognizing the company's solid foundation and its exciting new possibilities, we feel that this is the right time to transition artistic leadership to the next generation."

A companion letter from the theatre's board leadership stated that Ewen, Fort, and Stettler had "literally transformed the company and put it on the national map." With the Founding Directors remaining in place for another year and their planning for the 2018 season under way, the board will be appointing a search committee and selecting a national search firm to find an Artistic Director to partner with Managing Director Lesley Koenig to forge the company's future.

Anthony Wood, Chair of the theatre's Board of Directors, added, "Mal, Tim, and Steve have grown the Weston Playhouse from a summer stock company with a budget of $150,000 to a year-round regional theatre with an annual budget of over $2 million. During their tenure, nationally known actors such as Christopher Lloyd, Campbell Scott, and Elizabeth Franz have graced the Weston stage. The company has helped to send new plays and musicals to Broadway and Off Broadway, and its Education programs have served more than 30,000 young people. We applaud these remarkable achievements as we prepare to enter a new era."

Commenting that they still remember their excitement when they were chosen to lead the Weston Playhouse in 1988, the Founding Directors promised a seamless transition, "certain the next director will be equally energized by Weston's special magic and its promise."

Pictured: Weston Founding Directors Malcolm Ewen, Tim Fort, and Steve Stettler on the site of the company's new Second Stage, Weston Playhouse at Walker Farm.