Great Lakes Theater Festival Announces New Management Structure

July 11, 2003
GLTF names Executive Director, Managing Director and Marketing and Public Relations Manager

CLEVELAND, OH – Charles Fee, Producing Artistic Director of Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF), today unveiled a new management structure for Cleveland’s classic theater designed to guide the Festival through its 42nd season and beyond. The core of the management reorganization plan promotes three current festival employees to positions of heightened leadership within the company. Bob Taylor, formerly the company’s Director of Administration, will assume the role of Executive Director; Greg Quinlan, currently the Production Manager for the Festival, will assume Managing Director responsibilities; and Associate Director of Education Todd Krispinsky has been named Marketing and Public Relations Manager.

“These are very exciting times for this theater company. We continue to refine the way that we produce high-quality, classic theater for our audience in a fiscally sustainable manner. The Festival’s Staff and Board of Trustees have examined every aspect of this company. Reconfiguration of our management structure seemed a natural next step,” Mr. Fee stated. “I believe that this new management model accurately recognizes the exceptional contributions of these staff members and positions them to apply their skills to broader leadership roles within the company. Redefining a bold new vision for Great Lakes Theater Festival in a challenging economic climate demands passionate and intelligent leadership that is equipped to make innovative decisions and see those choices through to fruition. I am very optimistic about our future in Cleveland with this team in place.”

As Executive Director, Bob Taylor will direct the day-to-day operations of Great Lakes Theater Festival, including management of the finance, human resource, development, and administrative functions of the theater. Mr. Taylor joined the Festival in 2000 as Development Manager and was appointed Director of Administration during the following season. Prior to joining Great Lakes Theater Festival, Bob Taylor worked as Business Manager for Karamu House and other for-profit and not-for-profit organizations. Mr. Taylor holds an MBA from the Weatherhead School of Management and an undergraduate degree from Aquinas College in Grand Rapids, Michigan.

Managing Director, Greg Quinlan will direct the theatrical operations of the Festival, including management of the production, sales, marketing, and communications efforts of the company. Mr. Quinlan joined Great Lakes Theater Festival in 2000 as Production Manager. Before taking his position with GLTF, he was production manager for Minneapolis’ Hey City Theater, the company responsible for producing Tony and Tina’s Wedding in Cleveland. For Portland, Oregon’s Dreadnought Theater Company, Greg directed The Fever and Live During Wartime. He has stage managed for Hey City Theater, Musical Theater Company, and Artists Repertory Theater. Mr. Quinlan holds a B.A. in Theater and Physics from Reed College.

Todd Krispinsky, Marketing and Public Relations Manager, will coordinate all marketing and communications efforts for Great Lakes Theater Festival. Mr. Krispinsky has worked for the Festival as a member of its education department since January 1999, most recently as Associate Director of Education. Most notably, Todd programmed and promoted several series of GLTF outreach Surround programming including: Will Power! – Shakespeare in the New Millennium (2000), Coming of Age: A Series of Community Programs About Growing Up (2001), Star-Cross’d (2002) and Awaken the Dream (2003). A freelance actor and scenic designer, Todd has collaborated with arts organizations including the Cleveland Play House, Berea Summer Theater, Dobama Theater, Lyric Opera Cleveland, Pathway Productions and The Wallpaper Project.

Great Lakes Theater Festival’s up-coming season, announced in April, includes Shakespeare’s Hamlet and Moliere’s Tartuffe in rotating repertory, Dickens’ A Christmas Carol, Private Lives by Noel Coward and a special co-production with Cleveland Public Theatre of Joan Holden’s play Nickel and Dimed; On (Not) Getting By in America based on the book by Barbara Ehrenreich.

A five-show GLTF season subscription costs as low as $90.00. Subscriptions are available beginning July 14, 2003 by calling the Great Lakes Theater Festival Subscription Hotline at (216) 664-6064. Groups of ten or more receive discounts, as do educators and students. Information about specially priced packages is available by calling (216) 241-5490.x 317.

Great Lakes Theater Festival is a professional, resident, non-profit theater and a constituent organization of Playhouse Square. Since its formation in 1961, the theater’s mission has been to bring the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in northern Ohio. GLTF productions are performed in the Ohio Theatre in downtown Cleveland. Additionally, GLTF generates the largest theater-based education program in the state of Ohio, including a school residency program, a student matinee series and community outreach programs.