Lynne Collins to run Arvada Center theater under unified leadership plan

Lynne Collins has been named to the newly created position of Artistic Director of Theatre at the Arvada Center, ushering in a simplified, more traditional and most likely transitionary leadership structure just a week after the surprise resignation of Rod Lansberry.

In 2016, Arvada Center CEO Philip Sneed essentially split the artistic director position, adding Collins to oversee the production of plays while Lansberry continued to supervise the musicals. The move essentially created two theater companies under one umbrella. Today’s announcement means that Collins will essentially absorb Lansberry’s duties, with the expectation that Collins will next hire an Associate Artistic Director to join her.

“I am looking forward to being able to operate with a simpler, more efficient leadership structure,” said Collins, who said she wasn’t exactly licking her chops to take over the production of musicals, “but with my obvious presence here,” she said, “I think it makes a lot of sense.”

Sneed originally hired Collins to launch what has become an Arvada Center signature: An old-school repertory acting company for plays. For example, her 2021-22 ensemble is currently presenting “The Liar,” “Animal Farm” and “Stick Fly” on alternating days through May 22. And it has made an impact in several ways.

Before the pandemic shut down all theater performances in 2020, attendance at Arvada Center plays, which had long been perceived as secondary to Lansberry’s lavish musicals – was up 40 percent. Arvada Center plays have since won multiple Henry and True West Awards and, under Collins, Director of Communications Marcus Turner says, donations in specific support of the production of plays tripled in the first three years.

Collins made it clear she has no plan to change her present repertory acting company structure. But, she added, with the musicals and plays having been scheduled and produced for the most part independently the past six years, "You'll probably see more connection between the two programs moving forward," she said, and more cohesion in season selection decisions. 

And, she said, she’s not taking the job for the long haul. Without being specific, it’s likely she’ll run the unified program for between three to five years. 

“I absolutely see myself as a transitional leader because I am nearing retirement age myself,” she said. “So I am already looking at my succession in a big way. I have the opportunity to set this place up with some really interesting leadership, and I will be looking at new voices who will really expand our creative thinking. I think I can really help the Arvada Center with its next iteration – whatever that turns out to be.”

The biggest surprise about Collins’ appointment is the fact that, by her own admission, she doesn’t have a lot of experience with musicals. Collins, who won the 2018 Henry Award for directing “Sense and Sensibility” – on wheels – is best known for her work on Shakespeare and classic plays. The last musical she directed was “Woody Guthrie’s American Song” for Foothill Theatre Company in California in 2004.

Lansberry’s sudden resignation, and Collins’ expanded duties, “will definitely open up the director pool” for both musicals and plays at the Arvada Center. And Collins is all for it. “I am a firm believer that more voices in the room is better,” she said.

The Arvada Center already has announced a 2022-23 season that includes the musicals “Into the Woods,” “Beauty and the Beast” and “Damn Yankees.” Collins said she will now direct “Into the Woods,” and that guest directors will helm the other two. Now that she is in charge of all theater productions at the Arvada Center, Collins said she will most likely direct one play and one musical per season. That play next season will be Karen Zacarías’ “The Book Club Play.”

“I have a big learning curve when it comes to musicals, no question,” she said. “But that’s the funny thing about musicals – it’s a bigger challenge, but you also have a bigger team of artists to help you. Because of them, I am not intimidated by the challenge.”

When it comes to musicals, Collins said her favorites “are good plays with music,” citing anything by Stephen Sondheim, and specifically “Into the Woods.” “I also like this trend of rethinking great American songbook musicals like ‘The Music Man’ and ‘Oklahoma!’ through a 21st century lens,” she said.

“Lynne’s strength is that she’s not afraid to collaborate,” local actor Emma Messenger said in a previous interview. “She doesn’t pretend to know everything. She doesn’t waste time on ego. She surrounds herself with incredible designers, truly wonderful directors and really good actors, too. Then she listens to them. She’s a visionary.”

Collins’ appointment continues a working partnership with Sneed that dates back to 1990. Collins was first brought to Colorado by Sneed in 2007 when he ran the Colorado Shakespeare Festival. Collins directed in Boulder for six seasons, including “Macbeth” (2008), the True West Award-winning best comedy “Noises Off” (2012) and her proudest achievement, “Romeo and Juliet” (2011).

Collins studied at the American Conservatory Theatre in San Francisco and with Stella Adler. She holds an M.A. from San Francisco State University.

“Lynne is a tremendously talented artist and a fierce advocate for inclusion in the arts,” Sneed said in a statement. “Her dedication to the Arvada Center and the entire Denver theater community alongside her innovative artistic vision make her the ideal choice to lead our theater program into the next chapter on our journey.”

The Arvada Center has been rocked hard by the pandemic, with COVID outbreaks among creative staff canceling performances of “Elf,” “Stick Fly” and “Kinky Boots.” Collins is proud of how the Arvada Center responded to the shutdown and reopening, but acknowledges the longer-term challenges all traditional performing-arts organizations face moving forward, including how to draw audiences back into the theater, and how to give more voice to underrepresented communities. Collins said she remains fully committed to the Arvada Center’s promise to create a space “where a diverse slate of stories can be told and all voices can be heard,” citing next season’s play, “The River Bride,” by Marisela Treviño Orta.

“Everybody is trying to figure out what theater looks like in the future,” she said. “And we are trying really hard to meet that moment.”