Steitzer's Exit From Act Casts Directorship In A Different Light

Last week's sudden resignation by Jeff Steitzer as artistic head of A Contemporary Theatre leaves a gaping hole on the Seattle drama landscape. Word is out, and those hoping to fill in the gap are already faxing their resumes from around the country.

News of Steitzer's defection still puzzles many, though. Well-liked by ACT co-workers, subscribers and trustees, Steitzer did not flee a theater in crisis, nor was he forced out. "This was entirely his own choice," says ACT board president Katherine Raff.

Though his long-term commitment to certain playwrights (e.g., Steven Dietz, Doris Baizley, Alan Ayckbourn) and his emphasis on British comedy didn't thrill everyone, the theater stayed solvent and well-attended during Steitzer's six-year tenure. Subscribership rose by more than 20 percent, and the annual budget swelled from $1.9 million in 1988 to $2.7 million in 1994.

Steitzer's mountings of ambitious works such as Alan Ayckbourn's six-hour "Revenger's Tragedy" and the rarely seen Stephen Sondheim musical "Merrily We Roll Along" gained national recognition for ACT. His commitment to developing new plays by writers he admired also became a priority of the company.

If he had stayed on through 1996, Steitzer likely would have presided over ACT's anticipated $25 million renovation of, and move into, a promising downtown locale: the vast rococo Eagles Auditorium.

So why did he bow out so abruptly? And what sort of leader will ACT choose as his replacement?

Tuckered out

Steitzer's explanation is simple: He's plum burned out.

Speaking by phone from Louisville, Ky., where he's staging "Betty the Yetti" at the Humana Play Festival, the now-lanky director noted, "I've lost about 100 pounds in the past six years. I haven't had a vacation, other than to take my son and daughter to see Grandma or to go with subscribers on ACT's theater trips to London.

"I do want more time, in just a selfish way, for me. And I'm a divorced dad who wants to see a lot more of his kids."

But there's another factor at work here, one that weighs heavily on many stage artists at the command posts of important nonprofit theaters.

"It's no secret that Jeff is a lot more interested in being an actor and a director than an administrator," says former ACT artistic associate Steven Alter, now the group's interim artistic director. "Jeff would much rather be working on shows than going to planning meetings."

Raff, the board president, concurs: "I've had conversations about this with Jeff for a while. As ACT has grown, we've needed him to take on more and more administrative work. Our needs are moving in a direction that aren't commensurate with Jeff's wishes for his own future. It was just a matter of everyone recognizing that."

`Very distracting'

Steitzer recalls too many times "when I came out of a rehearsal for a break, and 15 people had 15 questions about things that had nothing to do with the play at hand. Obviously, it was very distracting."

But wait a minute - isn't the job title artistic director? And isn't there already a respected managing director on staff in Susan Moritz, who has ably overseen the business side of the company for nearly a decade?

Sure. But even healthy theaters are struggling in this era of diminishing financial resources. More fund raising, planning, renovating, marketing and civic involvement are required to stay afloat - often too much for one executive to handle. If there's no money to add extra management, the artistic chiefs must pick up the slack - or gravitate out of institutional drama and into the crowded but in some ways less demanding field of stage and screen free-lancing.

Is role change needed?

Another high-profile local theater director sees a possible shake-up in the profession. Daniel Sullivan is signed on for another five-year hitch as artistic director of Seattle Repertory Theatre, but he suggested last year that "in the future, maybe working artists won't be running the big regional theaters.

"Maybe what will be needed are people more interested in being producers and community outreach workers than play directors."

Moritz isn't so sure about that: Both she and Raff assume ACT will hire another director to replace Steitzer. "You're known first," says Moritz, "by what you put onstage."

The two women also indicated that ACT will look for someone who shares Steitzer's commitment to premiering new scripts and tapping the local drama talent pool. And it will have to be a person ready to sign on to existing capital plans - the Callison Partnership architectural firm is already designing the renovation of the Eagles hall. The construction of two 380-seat theaters within the structure is to begin in 1995 and be completed the following year.

Challenge awaits next director

Any candidates who do come forth, no matter how gifted in stagecraft and rich in artistic vision, must also accept that the job will place them at the center of a mini-community, surrounded by constituents.

"An institution wants your individual creative voice in there, which is why they hire you," reflects Moritz. "But you're not a lone artist just doing your thing.

"At ACT there are 11,000 subscribers, 35 trustees, 25 staff members and a pool of actors who will all have an opinion about how you do the job. Everyone is looking toward you to enthrall them each time they walk into the theater. That's a lot of pressure."

As for Steitzer, the pressure is off. He plans to remain in Seattle and direct the two shows he promised to ACT this season: Jon Klein's "Betty the Yetti," and "Alki" by Eric Overmyer. He'll also serve as artistic "consultant" until his successor is hired.

After that? "I haven't got long-term plans," he says with a sigh of amazement and relief. "I'm in fact very interested in doing more acting. And in making a lot of money."