Theatre Albany welcomes new General Manager Randy Harrell

ALBANY – Theatre Albany will enter its 91st season with a new but familiar face as its general manager.

Theatre Albany fans and supporters may recognize Randy Harrell from the theater’s last show, where the southwest Georgia native played lead character Sweeney Todd in the June production of “Sweeney Todd: The Demon Barber of Fleet Street.” Although, at a Thursday meet-and-greet, he looked a bit less pale and swapped his penchant for human bodies for hors d’oeuvres.

Harrell welcomed theater visitors with a smiling face and the promise to keep Theatre Albany’s doors open for more than just the theater’s four regular productions per year. He filled the position Aug. 1, after the abrupt departure of former General Manager Justin Neal.

Harrell graduated from Lee County High School, where he was known as the “class clown.” Earning that title often got him into trouble, until his school advisor suggested he take drama courses. His teacher at the time, Robby Davis, communicated to students with an openness Harrell said he admired.

“And that was when I fell in love,” he said. “This was the one thing where you can just be yourself.”

Harrell said he spent much time volunteering and performing in shows with Theatre Albany.

“If you’d told 16-year-old me that somebody’s gonna hand me the keys to a theater one day, I would have laughed in your face,” he said. “But now, I get to run the place, which is the coolest thing in the world.”

Not only does Harrell come with a strong theater history, he also has experience working with nonprofits. He worked with the Lily Pad SANE Center in Albany, which provides a safe haven for sexual assault and child abuse victims and their families. Harrell said he and his wife used to foster a child, so he is passionate about advocating for foster children, which working at the Lily Pad allowed him to do. While there, he said he also gained a good understanding of how to get grants and raise funds for nonprofits.

In his interview with the Theatre Albany Board of Trustees, Harrell shared a number of innovative ideas in his vision for the theater’s future. The first, he said, is finding new uses for the theater’s building outside of its regular productions.

“Every time I’ve been in a show here, at the end of the show, we go out in the front and shake everybody’s hands, and I’ve heard consistently, ‘I always forget this place exists,’” Harrell said. “My plan is to make sure no one can ever say those words. There’s no reason this place shouldn’t always have something (going on).”

He said he wants to start raising money to update the black box theater in the upstairs portion of Theatre Albany. He has visions of using the space for murder mystery theater dinners, karaoke nights, bingo or “just anything to get more people in the door.”

“We need to engage the community more than just four times a year,” Harrell said.

He said he wants to find a balance in events that honor those who love the theater and its building already but also embrace newcomers. Another goal is attracting participants from a younger crowd.

Harrell said “Sweeney Todd” drew younger faces that had never been to Theatre Albany before. He also said he wants to engage more with high school theater programs, offering opportunities for student involvement from acting to technical production or set design.

“It’s about engaging people and giving them a reason to come … whether it’s Disney, karaoke or letting high school kids do their senior projects,’” he said. “The only way to get more awareness is for people to know it’s here.”

Harrell also has to keep the doors open, he said, after a lack of funding almost forced Theatre Albany into closure. He said he told the board he’d save them money. Since taking on his new position, Harrell said he’s cut the grass and shampooed the carpets on the property.

“I’m going to get as dirty as I need to save money so that we are not having to pay for those things,” he said. “But also, we’ll be hosting more events to help raise money and get the community involved.”

Ultimately, Harrell said, Theatre Albany is an important creative outlet for the community.

“Everyone needs to feel safe … have a place where they can be exactly who they want to be comfortable being, and there’s no better place than a theater,” he said.

Theater, he said, helps people build confidence.

“There are so many people … when you first meet them, they’re extremely introverted, but once you put them on a stage and under some lights with a microphone, they become completely different,” Harrell said. “Everyone should get to see how it feels to bring joy to hundreds of people.”

That’s what theater is all about, he said, and he’s most excited to bring more opportunities for exactly that.

Staff Photo: Lucille Lannigan
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