Weaver to oversee community theater

Mike Weaver has been named Orcas Center’s new community theater manager.

Weaver, who starred in several community theater productions, among them South Pacific, was selected for the job by Executive Director Candace VerBrugghen over Deborah Sparks and John Clancy. VerBrugghen called the decision one of the toughest she has ever made.

Weaver’s job will be to oversee all community theater productions at Orcas Center. Weaver won’t direct future plays, but he’ll be handling all the details connected with each of them. He’ll work with the Center’s theater committee on selection of the plays, and schedule use of the main stage plus the center’s soon-to-be-completed expanded facilities, which will add 8000 square feet to the building. These include a so-called “black box,” a rehearsal room and venue for experimental, small-audience productions, a scene shop, costume shop, and dressing rooms. The expansion is expected to be completed by late June.

A big part of his job will be to develop a youth theater curriculum consisting of both plays and classes -- programs which students want, but which the school can’t provide, VerBrugghen said.

The new position is a permanent job that will have Weaver working full-time nine months a year, from March through November. Weaver’s first day on the job will be May 12.

Orcas Center created the position because, VerBrugghen says, “The whole expansion is about community theater.”

Weaver holds a degree in theater from Oberlin College, in Ohio, as well as experience in the field, having worked in theater in Seattle before moving to Orcas. Here, he performed in several local plays, and sang with the Orcas Island Choral Society and other singing groups.

Weaver, who is currently living in Vancouver, B.C., left the island last summer to be with his wife Monica Woelfel, who is completing a Masters degree in Fine Arts this spring, and will be returning with her husband to the island.

Weaver is glad to be returning home. “I missed the community,” he said. “I’m excited to be back.”

Comment on this story.

COMMENTING RULES: We encourage an open exchange of ideas in our online community, but we ask you to follow our guidelines for respecting community standards. In a nutshell, don't say anything you wouldn't want your mother to read.