B.J. Cleveland

  

The economic downturn has already affected Theatre Arlington in various ways this year. A large musical was replaced by a farce with a smaller cast (the current Cash on Delivery), and the fulltime staff has been cut in half, from eight employees to four. Of those cuts, none is more surprising than the release of Artistic Director B.J. Cleveland.

Rumors of his being "let go" surfaced this weekend (June 20-21), and Cleveland—who has been the face and voice of Theatre Arlington for at least 15 years—confirmed the news to Theater Jones.

"I've seen it coming for a long time and I knew we needed to make major changes," Cleveland said. "I told the board president, Penny Patrick, that in the worst case scenario, you can take my salary and then just pay me to direct and perform ... it's more important to have an executive director to have someone who can help with funding and so forth."

And that's exactly what happened. Theatre Arlington is restructuring, and will not have an artistic director. Instead, the executive producer role will be taken over by Todd Hart, who recently resigned as associate producer at Casa Mañana. Hart will begin his new role on July 27.

Cleveland says the new freedom will give him more opportunities to work at other local theaters, and he'll still work at Theatre Arlington. His final day on the job will be the end of the 2008-09 season, after he wraps up starring in the classic comedy Harvey in August.

Cleveland began his stint at Theatre Arlington as an administrative assistant in 1984, and became the organization's first fulltime artistic director in 1994. Cleveland also teaches as an adjunct professor at the University of Texas at Arlington, and hopes to secure other teaching, directing and acting jobs now that he has more time.

"My first love is acting and performing," Cleveland said, "and I'm excited because it does free me up to work at some of the theaters I've wanted to work at."