This post was contributed by a community member. The views expressed here are the author's own.

Arts & Entertainment

Local Theater Company Names New Artistic Director

Gordon Durich has background in acting, producing and writing.

The Calabasas Theatre Company has named Westlake Village resident Gordon Durich as its new artistic director. 

Durich, a writer, producer, actor, artist and marketing consultant, hopes his tenure will bring stability to the fledgling company, whose debut season ended in December following the resignation of previous artistic director Geoffrey Forward. Forward stepped down after a

Durich learned acting and producing in Australia and England.

Find out what's happening in Calabasaswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“Theater has always been my passion,” he said. “I first saw the musical Hair when I was 15 years old. That left a big mark on me, and I always wanted to work in theater.”

Durich trained as an actor with the Melbourne Theater Company in Australia, and worked at Fringe Theater before leaving for London, where he studied drama and acted in shows.

Find out what's happening in Calabasaswith free, real-time updates from Patch.

“I’ve worked in everything, from mainstream productions to operas, films, television and radio, but theater is my first love,” he said.

Durich has also freelanced for Patch, writing various articles.

In his role as artistic director of the Calabasas Theatre Company, he will be looking for ways to engage the community, including making show choices according to residents' interests and recruiting local adults and children for stage productions. 

“We plan to have workshops and readings,and to include people from other areas of art, like visual arts, design, set design, and makeup,” Durich said. “There are a lot of people from the performance industry in Calabasas who may not be working full time. This would be a good way to network and showcase their talent.”

The biggest challenge will be to make people understand the theater's role in the community and trust it enough to become involved, he said.

“We need to make people realize that theater is going to be an instrumental part of Calabasas again, whether it’s street theater or theater performed at an actual structure,” said Durich.

For now, his biggest goals are fundraising and spreading awareness about the local company. Planning is under way for two fundraisers, and the company's website is being revamped.

Durich is also hunting for a more formal venue with proper lighting, where productions could be held. “We’ve looked at the [] amphitheater, and at as a possible venue during summer when school's out,” he said.

We’ve removed the ability to reply as we work to make improvements. Learn more here

The views expressed in this post are the author's own. Want to post on Patch?