After nine years, the theater company that re-invigorated theater in St. Pete has added two new staff members to its position: A development director and a technical director.
Margaret Murray left her position as donor development manager at the MFA to take the newly-created development director position. She has an MA from SCAD in Arts Administration. If the name sounds familiar, it's because Murray's had her development hand in the Shine mural fest, WMNF and the Morean Arts Center. The press release freeFall sent us lists more, but let's put it this way: If you've given money to an arts org in St. Pete, it's probably because of something Murray did.
"My goal is to broaden the base of support," she told CL. Murray grew up here, but she's lived all over, including Amsterdam, NYC and DC.
"I always keep moving back," she says — and we can't blame her.
The TD at freeFall, Nick Mathis, comes from Opera Theater of St. Louis, where he won a fellowship. For four years prior to that, he also served as the associate TD and automaton director for the Alabama Shakespeare Festival. He's won a bunch of awards, but, then, so has freeFall, so this marriage shouldn't shock anyone.
As fans of professional theater, we at CL couldn't be more pleased to hear about theater companies expanding their staff.
This article appears in Aug 3-10, 2017.