2 directors leaving theater positions
Mary Ruth Marotte, executive director of Arkansas Shakespeare Theatre, and Rebekah Scallet, producing artistic director, are stepping down from their positions at the 14-year-old summer theater festival traditionally held on the campus of the University of Central Arkansas.
Scallet is moving to another state, and Marotte is returning full time to her role as professor in the English department at UCA.
Marotte has been involved with the Shakespeare Theatre since its inception in 2007 and served as president of the theater’s board before becoming executive director in 2010. Scallet has worked with the program since 2011, and has produced and directed plays over the past eight seasons.
“What I’ve witnessed with this festival these past 13 years has not only transformed but exploded my understanding of what is possible when passionate people come together with a purpose,” Marotte said. “This festival truly is both a source of local pride and one that is recognized nationally for its artistic excellence. I’m so grateful to Rebekah, our board and committee members, our artistic collective, the numerous volunteers, our brilliant company members and our sponsors, who have helped make AST what it is today.”
Scallet said leaving the theater and the Central Arkansas community is bittersweet for her.
“The personal and professional support I’ve received over the years has been incredible, and I’m very proud of the work that we have created here,” Scallet said. “It didn’t feel right to let the summer go by without any Shakespeare, and so the Collective came up with the idea to share the best of AST via as many avenues as possible in a safe, socially-distanced way.”
The 2020 season would have been Scallet and Marotte’s last, but it was canceled because of covid-19.
Instead of the traditional performance-based season, however, the theater is coordinating a series of online and remote experiences featuring social, educational and performance-based projects. The series is created by members of the theater’s Artistic Collective, a group of directors, actors and designers who have had significant artistic relationships with the theater over the past nine years.
The season will take place on Facebook and Instagram (@arkshakes), as well as on the theater’s website through July 12, during the same weeks the in-person performances would have been held.