Columbia Theatre gets new director
Wednesday, March 14, 2007 6:32 AM PDT
By Tom Paulu
Printable version
E-mail this articleGian Paul Morelli is moving from the "Jewel of the Lakeshore" to the "Crown Jewel of Longview."
Morelli has been hired as executive director of the Columbia Theatre for the Performing Arts. For the past 2 1/2 years, he's held a similar position at the Capitol Civic Centre in Manitowoc, Wisc., a town on Lake Michigan.
Morelli replaces Dan Mankin, who left the CTPA in October and will work for the Sun Valley Center for the Arts, in Ketchum, Idaho.
When he arrives in May, the 52-year-old Morelli will be the CTPA's fifth executive director since the early 1980s, when the City of Longview purchased the theater and turned over operation to a non-profit board.
"We consider him an outstanding candidate," said theater board president Jim Stonier. "He has a lot of theater experience."
Stonier said the CTPA board doesn't plan any changes in direction with Morelli. The theater's most important issue now is its capital campaign, Stonier said.
The theater board is hoping the Legislature passes a bill that would allow the city to keep a portion of sales taxes collected here to renovate the CTPA's main auditorium and build a new Pepper Studio Theatre next door.
Morelli is coming from a job with several similarities to his position here.
Like the Columbia Theatre, the Capitol Civic Centre was built as a vaudeville house in the 1920s, then saved from the wrecking ball and reopened as a live performance hall in the 1980s.
The Wisconsin theater has been called "the Jewel of the Lakeshore" since it was built, Morelli said. In recent years, CTPA supporters have bestowed that name upon the theater.
The Civic Centre is offering a series of six shows this season, including Melissa Manchester, who is also coming to the CTPA, and Hormonal Imbalance, which performed in Longview last year.
With a population of 34,000, Manitowoc is similar in size to Longview.
Morelli said one reason he's leaving Manitowoc is that the economy there is "stuck in neutral." He said the Columbia Theatre is poised for expanded programming as the region's population grows.
"I see that three years from now there's going to be a significantly different demographic," Morelli said.
The CTPA's acting director, Helen Gundlach, is booking shows for next season. Morelli said at this point he doesn't know enough about what sells in Cowlitz County to make suggestions.
He plans to meet with groups of people to get ideas for future shows. "I'm not going to be doing the same-old same-old," he said.
It's important to offer shows that interest young audiences, he said. In Manitowoc, he's stressed providing seminars and classes in conjunction with shows. "You build a bond to the community."
He has also staged community events in conjunction with theater shows, such as a contest to build an ice fishing shack to promote "Guys on Ice," a musical about two fishing buddies.
Morelli's personal passion is avant-garde dance, but he said it's like anchovies -- a rare taste.
Morelli is a native of Canton, Ohio, and he calls himself "a die-hard, born-and-bred, bleeding-scarlet-and-gray Buckeye." He studied acting and spent four years as an actor based in New York, then did graduate studies in arts administration.
Over the years, Morelli has worked for several theater companies and arts organizations around the country. His resume includes managing a professional theater company in Madison, Wisc., and a Shakespeare festival in North Carolina.
Gundlach plans to stay on at the CTPA, working in fundraising and marketing.
Mankin's new job in Sun Valley will be with a non-profit organization that presents concerts, art exhibits and classes. He'll be in charge of booking a wide range of shows, Mankin said. "There's some very high-end stuff," with past acts including Willie Nelson, Rosanne Cash and Bonnie Raitt.
The Sun Valley Center, which also presents classical music, runs events year-round.
Mankin said he'll start his new job on April 2. He left his Columbia Theatre job last October after working at the theater six years. Neither he nor Stonier would discuss reasons for Mankin's departure.
Last week, Mankin said, "It was time to move on. ... It could have happened in a better way. (But) it will be good for me to go on and hopefully good for the theater."
free spirit wrote on Feb 7, 2008 1:19 AM:
Past Month's Most Commented Stories