New Director Takes Reins at Hepburn Theater in Old Saybrook, Connecticut

OLD SAYBROOK - The future of Katharine Hepburn Cultural Arts Center and Theatre (KHCAC) is looking even brighter after its first executive director was hired on Apr. 14.

Chuck Still, a 51-year-old native of Chattanooga, Tenn., will lead the center, which will be run as a non-profit organization, after a nationwide search yielding forty applicants.

Still will oversee the continuing renovation of the old 1911 Town Hall building into a performing arts center and determine its programming.

Serving for ten years as Executive Director of the Riverside Theatre in Vero Beach, Fla., Still is moving from directing a staff of 42 to one where he will be the only paid employee.

During his tenure, Still brought the theatre from a small performing arts center to one of Florida's premiere performing theatres and oversaw a $20 million renovation.

"It's a thrill to join an arts center and theatre named for one of the greatest actresses of our time. While I'm immensely proud of our work at Riverside Theatre in Florida, it's wonderful to return to New England where I spent many happy years in theatre," Still said.

Still comes from a theater that produced its own theatrical productions by deciding on plays, auditioning actors and actresses, hiring a cast, making stage sets, and putting them on stage.

KHCAC, like most small venues, will present theater, where someone else has done all that work, brings it on a truck, and presents it on the stage.

Bob Welsh, President of the KHCAC Board of Directors said, "Chuck Still is just the person to lead this exciting cultural and theatrical endeavor. His exemplary work in Florida made it clear he has the experience and vision to see us through opening night and well beyond."

Previous to working at Riverside, Still was the Managing Director of the Merrimack Repertory Theatre in Lowell, Mass. and earlier was Managing Director of the Berkshire Theatre Festival in Stockbridge, Mass.

In total, Still has been in the theater business for the past thirty years.

Still is a graduate of Davidson College and the North Carolina School of the Arts.

As for Old Saybrook, Still hopes the 220-seat arts center will offer a wide range of artistic programs including film, dance, lectures, small plays, comedy, and music events.

"It's my job to determine programming that will both serve the community's needs and honor the remarkable Ms. Hepburn," Still said.

Some of the programming, such as film festivals, will showcase Old Saybrook's hometown actress and the building will house a museum dedicated to the actress.

While Still has an office in Old Saybrook Town Hall now, Roland Laine, Chairman of the Building Committee for the KHCAC, has said that Still's office will move into the center once construction is complete.

It is expected that the theater will open its doors at 300 Main Street in December 2008.

Construction was delayed after space was reprogrammed after the Board of Selectmen voted to move the Probate Judge's Office into recently vacated space in Town Hall rather than on the lower level of the center.

It is expected that the additional lower level space could enhance the center by serving as multi-purpose space for rehearsals and receptions.