Two members of USITT’s leadership will find themselves in new positions this August. We wish them much success as they assume new roles!

Bill Byrnes, former President of USITT, will become Dean of the College of Performing and Visual Arts at Southern Utah University in Cedar City, Utah. As Dean he will oversee the departments of art, music, and theatre arts and dance as well as have responsibilities for the Braithwaite Gallery, the American Folk Ballet. He will also work with the Tony Award-winning Utah Shakespearian Festival which is on the SUU campus.

Bobbi Owen, Vice-President for Communications, has been named senior associate dean for undergraduate education in the College of Arts and Sciences at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, effective August 15, 2004

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LHAT, the League of Historic American Theatres, has named Kennedy Lawson Smith as its new executive director. LHAT is also launching new initiatives in specific service areas and is refining its long-range strategic plan to expand member benefits, increase membership retention and recruitment, and strengthen LHAT’s financial position. Ms. Smith had been with the National Main Street Center of the National Trust for Historic Preservation for the past 19 years.

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We offer congratulations to the many members of USITT who were named to Entertainment Design’s 50 Powerful People in its July issue. Two in the “top ten” were honored at USITT’s 2004 Annual Conference & Stage Expo – Fred Foster who became a Fellow of the Institute, and Gary Fails who received a Special Citation – but numerous others were included!

Congratulations also to the Cincinnati Playhouse in the Park which received the 2004 Regional Theatre Tony Award given to a non-profit professional regional theatre company which displays a “continuous level of artistic achievement contributing to the growth of theatre nationally.”

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The conversion of Sightlines to an electronic publication has drawn very favorable comments. Said one member from Australia, “One other advantage of electronic delivery of Sightlines that has not, as far as I know, been mentioned is the advantage for international USITT members.

“Yesterday I was reading the March edition that arrived in my mail box this week (surface mail can take a very long time to cross the equator)! Today I am reading the July edition...it is nice to read about something before it happens rather than knowing that the proposed event has actually been and gone.

While not so dramatic, we also appreciate comments from readers such as “I am very excited about the new online version of Sightlines” and simply “I like getting the newsletter this way.” All responses are valued.

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