{"id":6310,"date":"2024-01-03T16:28:01","date_gmt":"2024-01-03T20:28:01","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/?p=6310"},"modified":"2024-01-03T17:33:12","modified_gmt":"2024-01-03T21:33:12","slug":"astor-theatre-hires-new-executive-director","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/2024\/01\/03\/astor-theatre-hires-new-executive-director\/","title":{"rendered":"Astor Theatre hires new executive director"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"

Jerri Southcott is the new executive director of the Astor Theatre in Liverpool. (Submitted photo)<\/p><\/div>\n

By Rick Conrad<\/strong><\/p>\n

The Astor Theatre in Liverpool has hired a new executive director.<\/span><\/p>\n

Jerri Southcott takes over the full-time position on Feb. 5, the theatre’s board of directors announced Tuesday<\/span><\/p>\n

Southcott is no stranger to the Astor. As the founder of South Shore Summer Theatre, she brought two productions to Liverpool \u2014 Jesus Christ Superstar in 2022 and Pippin in 2023.<\/span><\/p>\n

She says she\u2019s excited about her new role.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m really looking forward to meeting some of the patrons and working with the board of directors and the staff. I really do have a passion for the arts and for this building and the theatre itself. \u2026 I\u2019m very excited.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Southcott has experience on stage, and behind the scenes. She is a professional actor, with voice-over work in commercials, documentaries and animated series.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She has a family background in theatre. Her parents ran a renowned music theatre program for young people in North Bay, Ont. She says that program is still going strong after more than 40 years.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

She has also worked in various communications roles with the federal government, along with stints in journalism with CBC.<\/span><\/p>\n

It\u2019s been four years since the Astor has had a full-time executive director. Jean Robinson has been filling the role on an interim basis for almost three years, since September 2020, and plans to help with the transition.<\/span><\/p>\n

The theatre began its most recent search for a permanent executive director in March 2023, when Robinson announced she was stepping back from the temporary role for health reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

In May 2023, the Astor announced that its successful candidate would not be taking on the role after all.<\/span><\/p>\n

Another search resulted in the hiring of Lesli Chandler, who began the job in July but resigned in September for personal reasons.<\/span><\/p>\n

Robinson returned to her role as interim director in the meantime, helping with the search for someone to fill the job permanently.<\/span><\/p>\n

John Simmonds, the chairman of the Astor board, says Robinson played a vital role in the past few years in keeping the Astor afloat.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe kept our doors open,\u201d Simmonds said. \u201cThe good news is that through all this, the staff pulled together extraordinarily well. And Jean, as a part-timer, was putting in a full-time load. If it needed to be done, she would be here doing it.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

He says the board is excited about what Southcott will bring to the job, especially with what promises to be a packed 2024 season, starting with the Winds of Change production of the musical Follies in February.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe will bring that leadership component which she has had before,\u201d he said.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cShe has done an awful lot on the artistic side. She\u2019s run programs, she\u2019s an actor, she\u2019s done all of the things that we do in the theatre, plus she has had a strong administrative component in her various businesses that she\u2019s run. So we think that will stand her in good stead to hit the ground running in February.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Simmonds added that one of the things that most impressed the board was Southcott\u2019s background in communications, which he hopes will help boost the Astor\u2019s considerable promotional efforts.<\/span><\/p>\n

Southcott and her husband moved to Mahone Bay three years ago. She said she plans to commute to Liverpool for now, but that she and her family may consider moving closer as she gets comfortable in the job.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI do see the benefits of living in the community and working in a position like this one,\u201d she says.\u00a0<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cAnd I also feel like the South Shore as a whole, it\u2019s a great opportunity for me to introduce the Astor to people in this area who maybe haven\u2019t really experienced the theatre.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

As she takes over from Jean Robinson, Southcott says she has \u201cbig shoes to fill\u201d, but that she\u2019s up for the challenge.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cI feel confident that it will be a wonderful experience thanks to the support from the board and from the outgoing executive director.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n

Email: rickconradqccr@gmail.com<\/a><\/p>\n

To hear the broadcast version of this story, press play below<\/p>\nhttps:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/01\/newastorednewversionjan324-copy.mp3<\/a><\/audio>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Rick Conrad The Astor Theatre in Liverpool has hired a new executive director. Jerri Southcott takes over the full-time position on Feb. 5, the theatre’s board of directors announced Tuesday Southcott is no stranger to the Astor. As the founder of South Shore Summer Theatre, she brought two productions to Liverpool \u2014 Jesus Christ […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[13,5],"tags":[38,1420,1554,1553,41,39,1161],"class_list":["post-6310","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-community-news","category-news-posts","tag-astor-theatre","tag-executive-director","tag-jean-robinson","tag-jerri-southcott","tag-john-simmonds","tag-liverpool","tag-theatre"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/7"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6310"}],"version-history":[{"count":10,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":6324,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6310\/revisions\/6324"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6310"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6310"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.qccrfm.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6310"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}