Today we’d like to introduce you to Lee Foster.
Thanks for sharing your story with us Lee. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
We fell in love with Atlanta in 2007 when we visited Serenbe (40 minutes south). My husband and I looked at each other and decided right then and there that we wanted to live here. We bought our dream home, rented it out, returned to Northern California to finish raising our four children and counted the days to get back to Atlanta and to Serenbe. We waited seven years to move and as we moved I was hired as the Managing Director of Theatrical Outfit in downtown Atlanta to work with the iconic Tom Key, Artistic Director.
In California, I was the Executive Director of a community theatre since 1997. That was the year I moved back to California, my childhood home, from Massachusetts. Within walking distance from my house was a community theatre, Hillbarn Theatre. I would look through the windows and dream about how exciting and wonderful it could be. At that time, I worked for Crystal Cruises and was busy “putting bodies in beds.” I just knew if I got hold of that little theatre I could make it thrive. That year I joined their Board of Trustees and took over as Executive Director in 2000.
I was on fire! It was so thrilling. I knew nothing about this new exciting field. Every day was an adventure learning about theatre and the business of theatre. I hired an excellent Artistic Director who shared her love and perceptions about the business. I earned my Masters in Business in 2002 and wrote every paper on the non-profit theatre business: production, development, marketing, operations, technology and sales. We grew quickly, 200% in nine years and I found it very rewarding.
In 2009, the theater was doing extraordinarily well. I decided that we could add more product, create economies of scale and help other organizations. We added a small professional ballet company in a different county; we were their “front of house.” Later, we added an all-union Symphony Orchestra too. Simultaneously, I took over the Artistic Direction of the theatre and became Executive Producing Director.
I went back to school again to earn a Master’s degree in Fine Arts with a specialty in directing and vocal performance. It was one of the hardest experiences I’ve ever had to perform for the first time in one’s life but I felt I needed the training to be an excellent Artistic leader. I graduated in 2012 with an MFA after directing two shows in two years: Ragtime and The Color Purple. The Color Purple was nominated for a TBA Award (like a Suzi Bass Award but in San Francisco).
All this time we were putting our four children through high school and college. When the last child was graduating, it was time to move to Atlanta. We put it off one year all the while I was learning about theatre companies in Atlanta. After a few phone interviews, I had a serendipitous experience. One of the theatre executives I met was impressed and referred me to Theatrical Outfit. What a great experience to be downtown working with professional theatre! They hired me and I started working within a week of moving to Serenbe.
I’m about to start my fourth season with Theatrical Outfit. I found a wonderful home that needed me. Together, Tom Key and I have launched and successfully completed three seasons. We started the incredible co-productions with Aurora Theatre: Memphis, In The Heights, and this Fall, The Hunchback of Notre Dame.
We also put more people on stage at Theatrical Outfit than had been there for many years before. We added musicals, new works and exciting shows about famous personalities like Thurgood and Simply Simone.
Opportunities abound in Atlanta. Atlanta Ballet, per the request of choreographer Helen Pickett, hired me to be the acting coach for the dancers in Camino Real, who spoke. I’ve also found a wonderful collegial group of colleagues in the Audience Building Roundtable of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation. Also, Serenbe is an idyllic place; we are very involved in the community including involvement with the Serenbe Institute, Serenbe Film, Fellows and the new Terminus Modern Ballet Theatre.
Who knew that passing that old community theatre in 1997 would lead to such a fulfilling life?
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
My story seems like it was a clear road from point A to point B. However, at any difficult point, it felt like I could give up. The first few years at Hillbarn Theatre in California was very difficult. The theatre’s roof was falling in (we raised the $100,000 to replace it), there was no extra dollars and it was difficult to hire staff and have the cash/flow to pay them regularly.
In 2000, when I was originally taking over the theatre, I was also getting divorced. So I was then juggling a career, two kids and my feelings in that process. Adding school for my MBA with other mid-career professionals was the lifeline I needed.
I remarried in 2006 and combined two families with four teenagers. Though rewarding, it wasn’t easy.
I was credited with saving Hillbarn Theatre the first time. I left the theatre briefly for eighteen months in 2007 and came back in 2009 because the economic downturn had almost closed the theatre. That was when they made me Artistic Director as well as Executive Director. It was a very hard time as I had to fire staff in order to save the organization. It was the hardest thing I ever had to go through. The good news is the theatre thrived, having grown by over 200%.
Lastly, leaving our lifetime home in Northern California to move to Georgia was intellectually the right thing to do but it was hard leaving our children and parents. They didn’t really understand why we were moving.
Theatrical Outfit is a wonderful company. Tom Key was the leader at Theatrical Outfit since 1995. Any time a new executive arrives with new ideas and change, it can be difficult. Tom was generous but there were important learnings.
We are grateful for all our good fortune.
My essential quality is tenacity. I believe that I am living my purpose; therefore, I never give up. I just redouble my efforts and start again.
Please tell us about Theatrical Outfit.
At its founding in 1976, Theatrical Outfit (T.O.) Atlanta’s second oldest professional theater company was an ensemble of young theater artists, housed in a one room, 99 seat performance studio in Atlanta’s Virginia Highlands.
In the fall of 1995, Tom Key became the Executive Artistic Director and led the organization to the creation of its new award winning downtown home, the Balzer Theater at Herren’s, the first theater in the United States to achieve LEED certification from the U.S. Green Building Council.
The Balzer Theater is also the historical site of Herren’s, the first restaurant in Atlanta to voluntarily desegregate in 1962; its first African American patrons, Dr. Lee and Delores Shelton, remain annual season subscribers to Theatrical Outfit. Key’s programming of classics, regional and world premieres tell soul-stirring stories, with themes that explore diversity, equality, ethnicity, race, and religion; and often feature the best writers of the American South, including Ernest Gaines, Lauren Gunderson, Horton Foote, Harper Lee, Flannery O’Connor, Janece Shaffer, Sherry Shephard Massat, Elyzabeth Gregory Wilder and Tennessee Williams.
After ten years of capital investment, T.O. is in new territory. Having retired the mortgage, the Board of Trustees initiated a strategic plan in 2014 that envisioned a new leader to join Tom Key so that he could concentrate on the artistic. The resulting plan now has two leaders, Artistic Director, Tom Key and Managing Director, Lee Foster, hired in July 2014, who share responsibility for operational funding, artistic expansion and comprehensive Executive leadership.
Under Lee’s influence, Theatrical Outfit expanded their mission driven, artistic offerings that include more large scale productions, including Broadway style musicals, more actors on stage, and outlined audience development marketing efforts directed at many demographic and psychographic targets. In addition, TO was just awarded a $1000,000 Audience Building Roundtable grant under the auspices of the Arthur M. Blank Family Foundation to study MARTA and the performing arts patron.
Theatrical Outfit tells “Stories that store the soul.”
OUR VISION
A compassionate, joyful and just community.
OUR MISSION
Produce world-class theatre that starts the conversations that matter.
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
I was born in Honolulu. My favorite memory was on a warm breezy day. I could smell the plumeria in the air. My mother had a broom in her hands and she was simultaneously laughing and kind of screaming as she was chasing a big “bufo” frog down the hall. In retrospect, she wasn’t really very happy, but at the time, it seemed funny and perfect.
Pricing:
Contact Info:
- Address: 84 Luckie Street NW, Atlanta, GA 30303
- Website: http://www.theatricaloutfit.org
- Phone: 678-528-1500
- Email: BoxOffice@TheatricalOutfit.org
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/theatricaloutfit/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/TheatOutfit/?ref=bookmarks
- Twitter: https://twitter.com/TheatOutfit
Image Credit:
1. Theatrical Outfit at the Balzer Theater at Herren’s
Photo by BreeAnne Clowdus
2. The Dancing Handkerchief playing at Theatrical Outfit through June 18, 2017. A World Premiere written by Geoff Sobelle and Adam Koplan, with Music and Lyrics by Robert Lopez.
From left to right, Tom Key, Artistic Director plays Mysterioso, the Magician and Devon Hales plays young Bastienne.
Photo by Christopher Bartelski.
(left to right) Tina Fears, Marliss Amiea, Chani Maisonet and Chelsea Reynolds as Nina Simone in Theatrical Outfit’s Simply Simone: The Music of Nina Simone March 23-April 15, 2017.
Photo by Christopher Bartelski.
4. Lee Foster, Managing Director of Theatrical Outfit addresses the audience at Theatrical Detective, the largest fundraiser of the year.
Photo by Jeff Sudmeier.
5. Lee Foster, Managing Director addresses the audience at Theatrical Detective, the theatre’s largest fundraiser.
Photo by Jeff Sudmeier.
6. Lee Foster, Managing Director is joined by long-time Artistic Director Tom Key at the Theatrical Detective.
Photo by Jeff Sudmeier.
Getting in touch: VoyageATL is built on recommendations from the community; it’s how we uncover hidden gems, so if you know someone who deserves recognition please let us know here.
