After nearly 20 years, Quin Gresham drawing curtain on time at Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre

One of mid-Missouri's theatrical institutions will soon leave another of mid-Missouri's theatrical institutions.

Longtime Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre leader Quin Gresham will step away next month to become artistic director of the Alabama Shakespeare Festival, the Lyceum announced Tuesday in a news release.

Gresham has spent 19 years as the Lyceum's producing artistic director, furthering a tradition of world-class theater in the picturesque Missouri community, about 45 miles from Columbia.

"My time in Arrow Rock has been personally and professionally transformative," Gresham said in the release. "Curating and fostering storytelling in such an unlikely setting has been and will always be an inspiration, but doing that work with such hardworking and sincerely wonderful people has amplified the magic tenfold. If The Lyceum can draw loving and appreciative audiences to Arrow Rock, population 56, I can’t help but believe that anything is possible."

The theater, which casts actors through auditions held locally and in New York City, mounts a wide, varied summer season while also programming holiday favorites such as Gresham's adaptation of "A Christmas Carol" — turning 10 this winter — and hosting one-off entertainment events.

The shows will indeed go on as the Lyceum season continues unbroken, and Gresham will come back to Arrow Rock to direct "A Christmas Carol," the release noted.

Gresham first appeared at the Lyceum as an actor in 1999 and, in addition to administrative, creative and directing duties, has appeared in more than 50 shows there, the release noted.

Having weathered the early, shuttered days of COVID-19 through a mixture of resilience, innovation and caution, the Lyceum has enjoyed a return to pre-pandemic enthusiasm, Gresham told the Tribune in June.

More: From '42nd Street' to 'Margaritaville,' Lyceum Theatre set for summer shows in Arrow Rock

"The Lyceum seems to be an outlier in that. We have a growing audience, actually, not a shrinking one," he said.

That goodwill stems both from the quality of the Lyceum's productions and the quality of the connections formed among its patrons, he added.

"People look forward to seeing the show, but also look forward to seeing the people that often sit to their right and often sit to their left," Gresham said.

Based in Montgomery, the Alabama Shakespeare Festival is a cultural mainstay unto itself, having accumulated decades of performances. Formed in an Anniston high school auditorium in the early 1970s, the endeavor achieved "state theatre" status in 1977, and settled into Montgomery in 1985.

In a statement on its website, the festival recounts helping launch 100 new works of theater and performing the entire Shakespeare repertoire.

The ASF exists to expand upon "the cultural identity of the South by producing classics, Shakespeare, contemporary plays, musicals, theatre for young audiences, and exciting new works.

The 2024 Lyceum season continues Sept. 6-15 with a production of Ken Ludwig's "Moriarty," billed as a "new Sherlock Holmes adventure." Learn more about the theater at https://lyceumtheatre.org/.

This article originally appeared on Columbia Daily Tribune: Arrow Rock Lyceum Theatre's Quin Gresham moving to new stage