The Wayne Theatre Alliance announced that its executive director, Tracy Straight, “has concluded her tenure,” per a release issued on Thursday, in which the Downtown Waynesboro-based nonprofit’s board wished Straight “every success in her future endeavors.”
I’m not a fan of releases that wish a former employee well in future endeavors, just because, I’ve seen and written about a lot of those type things over the years, and the well wish regarding future endeavors often rings hollow.
And also, more generally, I’m suspicious of announcements of this nature that don’t tell us who the next person is going to be.
That can make the news come across as being sudden in nature.
I hope all is well here, is what I’m getting at.
“Tracy’s history with the Wayne spans nearly every stage of the organization’s development, from the early work of the Wayne Theatre Alliance and the opening of The Gateway to the restoration of the historic theatre and its operation over the past decade,” said Andy Matherly, chair of the Wayne Theatre board of directors, in a statement highlighted in the release that went out today.
Full disclosure time: I served on the Wayne Theatre Alliance board with Tracy Straight early in the organization’s history, as did my wife, Crystal, and Augusta Free Press assisted the Alliance for several years with marketing and publicity.
So, we know Tracy well, know the organization well, want to see everybody in this succeed.
Straight, a Waynesboro native and a former educator, had served as the executive director of the Wayne Theatre since 2016, which is the year that the 388-seat venue reopened as a performing arts center, following an $11 million renovation project that was 16 years in the making and execution.
“Serving the Wayne Theatre for more than 20 years has been one of the greatest privileges of my life,” Straight said. “I am deeply grateful to the countless volunteers, donors, staff, artists, patrons, and community partners who believed in the vision of bringing this historic theatre back to life and worked tirelessly to make it a reality. I am especially thankful to my family for their unwavering love, encouragement and countless sacrifices throughout this journey.
“Having the opportunity to help lead the Wayne Theatre from a community vision to the thriving performing arts organization that it is today has been an extraordinary honor, and I will always be proud of what we accomplished together. As I begin a new chapter, I do so with gratitude for the relationships, memories, and experiences that will always remain close to my heart,” Straight said.
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Chris Graham
