July 5, 2005
Christopher D. Flinchum will join the Festival beginning in late July

Cleveland, OH – Great Lakes Theater Festival (GLTF) named a new Production Manager today to complete the composition of its seven-person management team. Former Festival employee Christopher D. Flinchum will rejoin Cleveland’s professional, classic, theater company on July 25 in time for the opening of its 2005 season. The hire reconfigures the management structure of the Festival and fills the void created by the announced departure of GLTF’s managing director currently scheduled for mid-August.

“Chris’s history with Great Lakes Theater Festival makes him the perfect choice to join our team,” said Charles Fee, GLTF’s Producing Artistic Director. “ His knowledge of theater and deep experience in production and management give him the perfect skills to guide our production team in the future. Most importantly, Chris is a good friend of the Festival family and this hire feels more like a homecoming. We are thrilled to have him on board.”

Prior to joining Great Lakes Theater Festival in a management capacity, Mr. Flinchum served as a Production Stage Manager for the Festival on nearly twenty productions over seven seasons. Most recently, Flinchum worked as Director of Production for Cleveland Opera. He has toured nationally with The Acting Company’s musical productions of The Comedy of Errors and O, Pioneers, concluding with an off-Broadway run.  Other New York credits include productions for Lincoln Center Institute, The American Symphony Orchestra, The Women’s Project and Mannes Opera.  Flinchum holds a BFA from the North Carolina School of the Arts.

Since 1962, Great Lakes Theater Festival has brought the pleasure, power and relevance of classic theater to the widest possible audience in Northern Ohio. The first resident company of Playhouse Square Center, Great Lakes Theater Festival has called the Ohio Theatre home since 1982.