Perseverance Theatre’s longtime artistic director Art Rotch is leaving the theater.<\/p>\n
Rotch has served as the theater’s artistic director since 2008 — a stint that also included time as its executive director — and first came to Juneau to work at Perseverance Theatre in 1988.<\/p>\n
Joe Bedard, president for the theater’s Board of Directors, said in an interview with the Capital City Weekly that Rotch’s last day will be June 3o, but he has offered to make himself available throughout the summer to help with the transition to an interim artistic director.<\/p>\n
When reached by email Monday, Rotch wrote that he was not immediately available for an interview because he was with family on the East Coast.<\/p>\n
In the release that announced Rotch’s departure, Rotch, who is a graduate of Harvard University and New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts, said it’s time for his wife and him to live closer to New England family and theater projects in New York City.<\/p>\n
[After financial uncertainty, the show will go on at Perseverance Theatre<\/a>]<\/ins><\/p>\n Bedard said the change was not a sudden or unexpected.<\/p>\n “He’s been with us for a solid 11 years, and he has been working with the board for a while to see about finding ways to be closer to his family, which is back east,” Bedard said.<\/p>\n He said in his opinion Rotch is going out on top after a Perseverance Theatre’s 40th season, which concluded earlier this month with Steve Martin’s “The Underpants.” He said the theater was also in a sound financial situation.<\/p>\n