Contemporary Theatre of Dallas announces change of Managing Director

by PegNews wire

Contemporary Theatre of Dallas has announced that its Managing Director, Tom Sime, will leave the company at the close of the 2007-2008 season (which ends August 31) to seek opportunities as a playwright and producer in the New York area. Russell Dyer, acclaimed lighting designer and Managing Director of the Festival of Independent Theatres, will take over the position of CTD's Managing Director in September, after a period of overlap with Tom that will allow for a seamless transition in operations.

Tom moves on with the blessing and support of his longtime friend and mentor, Artistic Director Sue Loncar, who founded the theater in 2002. Sue and her husband, attorney Brian Loncar, have built CTD from a tiny itinerant group into one of Dallas’ most highly regarded theater companies. Tom has helped the theater make further strides in all areas, including audience development, production values, fundraising, critical acclaim, graphic design and improvements to the facility itself, from more comfortable and efficient seating to improved handicapped access and overall safety. Warbucks, the in-house bar Tom manages, has become a cash cow under his care, noted for the signature drinks he invents for each production. All of Sue, Tom and Brian’s efforts were acknowledged last year by the Dallas Observer, which named CTD the city’s “Best Theater” in 2007.

It’s been over three years since Tom left his decade-long stint as a theater critic and arts reporter at The Dallas Morning News in March of 2005 to take on the job of Managing Director at CTD, where he has successfully handled marketing (the season subscriber base has more than tripled during his tenure), fundraising (Tom launched CTD’s first capital campaign in 2008—the Bright & Green Campaign to overhaul the lighting system-- and its $20,000 goal is now at the halfway mark), grant-writing (with Tom at the helm, CTD has gone from no outside funding to substantial grants from such major public and private arts-funding organizations as the City of Dallas Office of Cultural Affairs; the Texas Commission on the Arts; The 500, Inc.; and TACA), as well as co-producing with Sue such acclaimed hits as Visiting Mr. Green; Lu Ann Hampton Laverty Oberlander, Shadowlands; Lone Star/Laundry and Bourbon; Right Ho, Jeeves; The Women and Lady Day at Emerson’s Bar & Grill, among many others. Before he leaves CTD, Tom will co-produce The Oldest Living Graduate by Preston Jones (opening June 6) and A Streetcar Named Desire by Tennessee Williams (opening August 8).

Tom’s playwriting career has begun to gain momentum with recent productions across the country and in Dallas, where his comic thriller Bloodletters will be staged at Teatro Dallas this summer in a co-production between Tom’s company The Modern Stage and independent producer Joe Black. Tom and Joe plan to produce his plays in New York in the near future. “I feel the time is right for me to find a place for myself in the commercial theater,” Tom says. “And the only place to try my hand at that end of the theater spectrum is New York City. But I love Dallas. I hope to return and help make Dallas become as important a part of the commercial theater scene as it has been of the nonprofit world.”

"I have been incredibly inspired by the past seasons at Contemporary, and I am extremely excited to have the opportunity to build upon the work that Tom has brought to CTD," says Russell.

Source: CTD