Discover Venice 2023-2024
Issue link: http://www.epageflip.net/i/1512151
If someone wrote a play about Geddie's life, two important plot points would be that remarkable Sarasota meeting and his recent promotion. The first act might be set in Fayetteville, N.C., when Geddie was about 3. In the first scene, Geddie's mother tells him to sit still in his seat. The family is at Fayetteville Little Theatre and Geddie is watching a live theater production — "The Great White Hope" — for the first time. Geddie stayed in his seat, but the experience moved him. "I do not know of a time I did not love theater," Geddie said in a phone interview. "My parents always insisted on doing something in the arts. I could play sports after I explored some of the arts first." Sports weren't involved, but Joetta and Willie Geddie set their son on a winning career path from an early age. "They did," he said. "They're pretty amazing people." HAVING AN IMPACT Geddie first came to Venice Theatre in 2010 to play the role of Coalhouse Walker in "Ragtime." In 2011, he was named the organization's first director of diversity and became the theater's general manager in 2016. His original plan was to perform "Ragtime" and then go to New York and prepare for graduate school. But Geddie experienced a major plot twist. "I did not follow my plan," he said. "Part of the reason I got into arts administration was that I didn't see anyone who looked like me on the other side of the table when I auditioned. I didn't see anyone who looked like me when I went backstage at the theaters where I was performing. Geddie said he wondered why "someone like me" wasn't working as a stage manager or directing. One evening when he was performing in "Ragtime," Geddie was chatting with Chase about the lack of diversity in theater personnel. He told Chase that he wanted to go to graduate school to learn strategies for changing that. "That was 2010, when there was no theater talking about diversity," Geddie said. "The only theatre I really heard talk about it — outside of maybe a whisper here and there in New York —was Murray Chase at Venice Theatre. "I'm thinking 'Wow, who is this man?'" Geddie said Chase read the room well wherever he went. "He had a vision, but he also had common sense to know our world was changing," he said. "Statistically, we were changing and the amount of people who were moving into Florida was changing, and the racial demographic of our region was changing. Chase hired Geddie and charged him with getting diversity ingrained into the fabric and culture of the Venice organization. "We did incredibly well and have done incredibly well," Geddie said, adding that Diversity, Equity and Inclusion (DEI) professionals in many industries hope to get to the point where their positions are no longer needed. But he knows it's a role that will never be completely done. BEYOND RACE Geddie told the Venice Theatre Board of Directors years ago that diversity is not just about race. It's also about getting younger people in the theater and promoting theater in area schools. That means updating the plays offered to include more contemporary shows. For example, popular musical theater such as plays like "Oklahoma" could cycle in and out of the schedule in deference to newer material. "Part of the reason I got into arts administration was that I didn't see anyone who looked like me on the other side of the table when I auditioned." — Kristofer Geddie " Kristofer Geddie has a BFA in musical theatre from Mars Hill College in North Carolina and a master's degree in arts administration from Goucher College in Maryland. He has performed on stages around the world. He has directed productions such as "Once On This Island," "Lady Day At Emerson's Bar and Grill," "Fences," "Ain't Misbehavin' " and "Dreamgirls." Prior to his arrival in Venice, he cruised the world as a company manager and principal singer for Jean Ann Ryan Productions on Norwegian Cruise Line. His theatre performance credits include "Ragtime," "Twelfth Night," "Race," "Intimate Apparel," "Falsettos," the premiere of the one-man show "Bert Williams," "Broadway Star," "Angels in America," "Dreamgirls" and the role of Judas in "Jesus Christ Superstar." 29 Discover Venice Photo by Tom O'Neill Wood shop volunteers Phil Hoffmann, left, and Barry Sullivan, show Venice Theatre executive director Kristofer Geddie plans for the set being built for "Reefer Madness" on July 11.