THEATRE NEWS: MOONLIGHT STAGE NAMES STEVEN GLAUDINI AS NEW ARTISTIC DIRECTOR

VISTA, CA (September 2, 2012) – Moonlight Stage Productions announced today that Steven Glaudini has been named Artistic Director-Designate of the theatre effective October 1, 2012 and will assume the title of Artistic Director upon the retirement of Founder/Producing Artistic Director Kathy Brombacher on December 31, 2012.

Veteran director and actor Steve Glaudini, right, has been chosen as the new artistic director of Moonlight Stage Productions, replacing founding artistic director Kathy Brombacher, who will step down at the end of the year after leading the theater for more than 30 years.  Photo by Jamie Scott Lytle.

Commencing January 1, Glaudini assumes responsibility for the artistic direction of Moonlight Stage Productions’ 2013 summer season at the Moonlight Amphitheatre, and the 2014 winter season at the AVO Playhouse. Glaudini and Kathy Brombacher will collaborate on the programming of the upcoming 2013 AVO winter season. He will work in partnership with Daniel Kays, the theatre’s managing director, in the administration of the Moonlight’s productions and events which serve as the cultural arts program at the City of Vista. Glaudini and Kays will continue the collaboration between the theatre and its non-profit producing partner, the Moonlight Cultural Foundation. The Foundation raises funds through private donations, corporate sponsorships and special events. These funds greatly assist the City of Vista in its ability to provide a cultural arts program that serves nearly 60,000 audience members a year from throughout the region.

"I am humbled and honored to continue the legacy of Kathy Brombacher’s life work,” Steven Glaudini said. “Rest assured that the artistic traditions of the Moonlight will continue on and that I am excited to see where we can take this magnificent organization into the future and beyond. These are very exciting times as I think back to my long history with the Moonlight from actor to director and now Artistic Director Designate.  It is truly a full circle for me and I am deeply grateful."

“It has been the deepest privilege to have held the artistic leadership of the Moonlight Amphitheatre and Moonlight Stage Productions as it rose from community theatre status into the regional theatre institution which it has become,” remarked Producing Artistic Director Kathy Brombacher. “Moonlight  Stage Productions has in fact represented most of my life’s work; and with this passing of the artistic torch to Steven Glaudini,  I know without a doubt that the future of the theatre will be assured and the theatre’s legacy of achievements will be in the strong hands of a director and artistic leader who will nurture and grow all the aspects of the theatre.  I celebrate this new era of Moonlight Stage Productions!”

Pictured here are (left to right) Steven Glaudini, Kathy Brombacher and Managing Director Daniel Kays.  Photo by Ken Jacques.

The appointment of Steven Glaudini caps his nearly two-decade association with Moonlight Stage Productions when he first came to the theatre as an actor in 1996. Glaudini comes to Vista having served as Artistic Director/Producer of Long Beach’s Musical Theatre West, a producing company presenting five Broadway-style musicals a year. Prior to this, Glaudini worked as an Equity Agent for Kazarian, Spencer, Ruskin and Associates in Studio City where he represented a roster of more than 200 actors, submitting and booking performers in California, New York and the West End. From 1999-2005, Glaudini served as Executive Director/Producer of Performance Riverside in Riverside, CA where he produced a Broadway musical series and other attractions. Previously, he worked as Casting Director for the Walt Disney Company in Anaheim where he was responsible for casting more than 150 performers in addition to staging numerous special projects and Disney industrial shows.

As a stage director, he has directed many of Musical Theatre West’s critically-acclaimed productions including Monty Python’s Spamalot, Annie, Little Shop of Horrors, The Producers, All Shook Up, The Pajama Game, The Pirates of Penzance and others. As a freelance director, he has worked throughout Southern California staging The Producers for Cabrillo Music Theatre; and A Little Night Music, Company, Children of Eden, Sweet Charity, She Loves Me and Carousel for Performance Riverside.

Glaudini’s work as a stage director for Moonlight Stage Productions has been peppered with critical acclaim and awards. His musicals at the Moonlight Amphitheatre have included Hairspray (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Nomination for Best Director), Miss Saigon (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Nomination for Best Musical), Cats, Les Miserables (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for Best Director of a Musical), West Side Story (San Diego Theatre Critic’s Circle Award for Outstanding Musical), Cabaret, and Children of Eden (2003 Robby Award for Best Director and Best Musical and Patté Award for Best Musical).

As an actor, Glaudini has performed a dozen roles at the Moonlight Amphitheatre and at the company’s winter season home the AVO Playhouse, including the productions of A Funny Thing…Forum, Ragtime, South Pacific, Carousel, Okahoma!, Peter Pan, and The Foreigner among others. His acting work elsewhere has drawn critical acclaim most notably for his portrayal of John Adams in two productions of 1776 winning an LA Stage Alliance Ovation Award and the Backstage Garland Award.

Glaudini's appointment was announced from the Moonlight stage on 9/1. Pictured here are (left to right) Vista City Manager Patrick Johnson, President-Elect of the Moonlight Cultural Foundation Jane Mitchell, Vista Mayor Pro Tem Steve Gronke, Steven Glaudini, Kathy Brombacher, Daniel Kays, and Moonlight Cultural Foundation Executive Director Karen Gee.  Photo by Ken Jacques.

Glaudini is currently in rehearsal as director for Moonlight’s final show of the 2012 summer season, Sweeney Todd, opening on September 19.