Changing of the guard — Cresson Lake Playhouse gets new leaders

Cresson Lake Playhouse will be under new leadership effective Jan. 1 with Tara Brodish as executive director and Davey Beyer as artistic director. The pair succeed the husband-wife team of Executive Director Cathy Seymour and Artistic Director Paul Seymour, who are retiring Dec. 31 after more than a decade of service.

Josh Duman, who was hired as the facilities director a year ago, will continue in that position.

Duman, Brodish and Beyer are teachers in area school districts and are involved in their school's respective drama programs.

Brodish, who lives in Ebensburg, has been teaching eighth grade English and language arts in the Windber Area School District since 2013. She has served on the CLP Board of Trustees since 2017 as board secretary and social media administrator. A veteran fundraiser, she has been involved in the 2019 Capital Campaign, Summer MusicFest, Dickens of a Christmas Santa Pub Crawl and Tree Toss while also serving as assistant stage manager for the 2021 production of "Drowsy Chaperone" and the "Hunchback of Notre Dame" in 2022 and stage manager for "Misery" in the recently completed season.

Brodish has a Master of Arts in adult and community education and a Bachelor of Science in secondary English education. She graduated from Central Cambria High School.

An Indiana resident, Beyer is an art teacher at Cambria Heights Elementary School in Carrolltown and is the theater director at the Cambria Heights High School in Patton. He's performed extensively in regional theater, as well as participated in the technical side through directing, building sets and more.

"I started doing theater at Cresson Lake Playhouse when I was 11 years old and just instantly fell in love with the place and was involved pretty much every summer until I was 24," he said.

Beyer "shadowed" Paul Seymour throughout the past season.

"I tried to give him information or just say 'this is something you need to attend to here,'" Paul Seymour said.

Beyer has selected the shows CLP will present during its 2024 season -- an act Seymour described as "putting all these puzzle pieces together" and "the hardest part of running this organization. ... I always say, it's like giving birth."

The Children's Theater production will be "Finding Nemo Jr." followed by a 50th season cabaret. The 50th season begins with the musical "The Last Five Years" and "Pippin," the revival musical version, "The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime" and "Greater Tuna," a comedy.

Beyer said he's feeling a "healthy mix of nervous and excited. Obviously, we have a great legacy to follow and a wonderful reputation of really strong theater. I'm excited to be a part of it and to nurture it and help keep it alive. But of course, nerves come along with that as well."

His greatest challenge as artistic director is selecting plays that appeal to older and younger patrons.

"You want to pick shows that are appealing to our older audience members but you also want to attract newer and younger actors and that's always a big challenge," Beyer said, "finding that balance of what does our audience want to see and what do people want to be in."

For Brodish, the challenge lies in remaining true to the theater's mission to "provide quality theater at an affordable price," Cathy Seymour said. "The tricky thing is when you're using all volunteers to provide quality theater, you have to find really good talented people in the area to come out for the theater. That's tricky because when people are volunteering their time, they don't like rejection when they audition."

To overcome those difficulties, Brodish said she wants to continue to "create an experience that this is a fun place to be and people want to give their time because you want them to come back. So, we've created this CLP family that people enjoy giving their time to and they don't feel like it's work."

She said as a community theater, Cresson Lake offers "the neatest experience" because the volunteer actors and those who work behind the scenes come from a variety of professions.

Cathy Seymour said Brodish's organizational skills and fundraising knowledge will serve the organization well. One change that's been made is separating the accounting/bookkeeping duties from the executive director's role. The board hired Katie Vescovi of Carrolltown as the accounting clerk.

The executive director and artistic director positions are paid, part-time positions.

"They're paid positions and are considered part time but like anything in a non-profit, it's part-time pay with full-time hours," Paul Seymour said.

The Seymours said they will remain in the area and will answer questions the new directors may have.

"This first year, it's important for them to have independence and to feel like we're not watching everything they do and critiquing them," Cathy Seymour explained.

"This has been much more than a job for us. It's really been a passion and a way of life for us," Paul Seymour said of their careers at CLP. "It's the right time to leave."

"It's important to be leaving it in the hands of people that we know could do a good job and they can," Cathy Seymour said.