By Ann-Carol Pence
Co-Founder/Associate Producer, Aurora Theatre
LAWRENCEVILLE, Ga. | Twenty seven years ago, Anthony Rodriguez and I had a dream of running a theatre. We were 30, had big ideas and no money, but we were in love.
Pence
A year and a half later, we bought a house in Duluth, and it changed our lives. We programmed our first full-cast book musical Oliver! Patrons couldn’t imagine how we were going to perform Oliver! in that tiny space. But we did.
That musical was followed by Bye Bye Birdie, Big River and many others. New musicals deserve a beautiful life in the cities and towns of America. I have always been most at home behind a piano at them. We also produced new musicals like Heartbeats, Floyd Collins, and Clue! the Musical. We lived three minutes from work so we could be there day and night. And we were!
We learned so much in that first decade. We created a non-profit corporation, formed a Board of Directors and made lifelong friends. We created business partnerships and sponsorships, wrote our first grants, and hired our first full-time employees including Al Stilo, now the director of Sales and Programming.
We launched a huge educational play series; we continued to produce blockbuster musicals like The Mystery of Edwin Drood, Guys and Dolls, and Chicago and we still found ways to pepper in small new musicals like Spitfire Grill, Pete ’n’ Keely, and Das Barbecü.
Then we moved the theatre to Lawrenceville – a city that grew with us, from one diner on the corner that wouldn’t stay open past 3 o’clock, to a booming downtown, full of , great restaurants, breweries, and “walking around beers.” Anthony and I continued to build this dream together producing mega hits like Les Miserables, Mamma Mia and Newsies, while still continuing to support new musical work.
So what will it be like in my new position? As the Producing Artistic Director, we will still be committed to musicals big and small, we will continue to support new musical work. We will venture to find plays that make us laugh and cry.
Someday soon, we plan to produce a show that premieres in the Lawrenceville Arts Center and then moves to New York. I am committed to Aurora and the City of Lawrenceville with all my heart. I have been a committed theatre leader for 27 years. Now I wear a fancy new name tag, a title that will inspire other women to be bold leaders and to manage their own companies. My career confirms that women producers are essential to the cultural fabric of American theatre.
I don’t have time to sit back and relax; to wax poetic about a job I have been doing for 27 years. I have too many hugs to give, too many dreams to realize, and a community to continue to make more compassionate, more inclusive, more kind and more fun! It is astounding to feel so loved by so many.
- Have a comment? Send to: elliott@brack.net
Follow Us