By TOM CHESEK
Guy Gsell, who as managing director helped pilot the non-profit Two River Theater Company to financial success that matched its rising artistic achievements, has resigned to take another job, the Red Bank-based arts organization announced late Friday.
After six years with the TRTC, Gsell will be hopping a subway to the next phase of his career, taking the position of associate general manager at Running Subway, a New York-based entertainment production company that bills itself as “combining traditional entertainment with innovative technology.” Shows and exhibits put on by Running Subway include the Broadway engagement of Dr. Seuss’s How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, and Bodies…The Exhibition, a popular attraction at South Street Seaport.
Gsell’s resignation is effective June 30, the end of TRTC’s fiscal year. Tthe company’s board of trustees will launch a national search for a replacement, according to the press release.
“I have loved every minute of my time at Two River Theater,” Gsell said in a prepared statement.
Gsell gave no public hint of his plans last Monday night when, during a rollout event for the TRTC’s new season. Before a nearly full house full of media people and Two River supporters, the self-described “bean counter” sat at an onstage keyboard and sang an original, whimsical tune about the company’s process of planning a new season, as seen through the eyes of the company beancounter. The song included the refrain, “You know, Neil Simon won the Pulitzer Prize.”
Gsell also had a memorable onstage turn during the Red Bank run of the Rupert Holmes play Accomplice in 2006.
In the statement. Gsell praised theater founder Robert Rechnitz vision and commitment to artistic excellence, and said he marveled at artistic director Aaron Posner’s “ability to deliver theater of the highest caliber to our audience.
“I am proud of the work we’ve done here over the last six years, and I look forward to watching my old friends create great art from the audience,” Gsell said.
Posner, who co-wrote and directs the current mainstage production Mark Twain’s A Murder, A Mystery and a Marriage, described his colleague as “a smart, dynamic, insightful arts administrator who truly believes in the art he is helping to create and facilitate. He has been an invaluable part of the growth and success of this theater and he has been a tremendous partner to me during my time at Two River Theater Company.
“While I am sorry to see him go, I can’t help but be pleased for him as he looks forward to exciting new opportunities and challenges. We will all miss him.”
Here’s what Rechnitz had to say:
“Guy guided each of our days because he held a vision of what we might become, a vision fashioned by his love of theater, by his understanding of its human value, and empowered by his inexhaustible energy, his commitment to work and his managerial skills. I enjoyed, treasured him as a friend, as a leader, as a person of great talents of all kinds. I and TRTC will deeply miss him.”
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I hope we will see a more exciting list of plays on the docket now that he is gone. Three of the plays from this season were essentially high school productions - Our Town, The Glass Menagerie (which the TRTC had already done a few years ago), and MacBeth.
posner comes in, trtc mainstays go out! who's next? will his fiancee' take someone else's job?
i hope that someone realizes that trtc has lost all of the core of its people after hiring aaron posner. he is a very talented director, but his ego is a bit inflated. guy has been the huge driving force behind two river and her new home. he will be missed. good luck in your future endeavours mr. gsell.
The decision of what plays to put on is a collaberative effort, Guy does not choose them on his own. And TRTC got some of the best reviews EVER for MacBeth.