WATERVILLE — You might say Catherine Palmer is theatrical, although she says her only stage performance was as a singer in her high school’s production of “Oklahoma.”
She is vociferous, confident, assertive and adamant.
Opera House Donations
New Waterville Opera House Executive Director Catherine Palmer asks that people donate to the 810-seat Opera House by emailing her at cpalmer@operahouse.org, calling the Opera House at 873-7000, visiting the theater or sending contributions to Waterville Opera House, 93 Main St., Suite 3, Waterville ME 04901. People may buy season sponsorships for $15,000, program sponsorships for $2,500, and individual sponsorships for whatever they want to contribute.
“Any amount is gratefully appreciated and tax deductible,” Palmer said.
Donations to the Opera House are used to staff the office, buy costumes and props, pay for license fees, which can exceed $10,000 for popular productions, hire musicians, hold auditions for actors, build software for the web site and other costs.
The new executive director of the Waterville Opera House, Palmer, 65, of Augusta, vows that she will build a rapport in the community and raise needed money for the municipally owned theater.
“When I applied for this job, I told them that I was the one they should hire and I showed them my 90-day to-do list,” Palmer said Monday, in an interview in her new office. “A week after my interview, I sent them the 90-day to-do list.”
That list includes building relationships with key employees, business partners and donors; meeting with season sponsors; buying two memberships for her and her wife, Rebecca Harvey; creating a planned giving program; updating the strategic plan; working with Waterville Creates and preparing a report for the Opera House board.
“I am leading this organization into the next era with Waterville Creates — a collection of all of us in Waterville who support performing arts — the library and Colby theater, Common Street Arts, Waterville Main Street, Maine Film Center,” she said. “We work together to make Waterville the destination for performing arts in central Maine.”
Palmer, who started her new job July 1, fills a spot vacated by Diane Bryan, who was executive director for 11 years and started at the Opera House in 2000 as production manager.
Palmer most recently was executive director of Marginal Way Preservation Fund in Ogunquit, where she exceeded the nonprofit organization’s annual revenue goals and raised more than $700,000 to fund an endowment for long-term conservation efforts.
She has been involved in fundraising, strategic planning, community development and advocacy for many years, according to Jim LaLiberty, president of the Opera House board of directors.
“We are pleased to have her guidance in advancing private support for the Opera House,” LaLiberty said in a press release. Palmer will work to expand Opera House offerings and fund an annual operations budget of more than $600,000.
“We also count on her to develop planned giving as an option for members, increase public support and orchestrate special events,” he said.
Palmer is confident they picked the right person for the job.
“I’m going to build a legacy,” she said. “I’m going to work to put the Waterville Opera House into the current day and age. This is my last career, and it’s going to be my most challenging, my most rewarding and the most fun.”
In five years, the Opera House will be in good form, she promised.
“We’ll be a $1 million operation annually, and we’ll have people who leave us a percentage of their estate for future years to enjoy the Opera House.”
CARETAKERS
Bryan, meanwhile, is not leaving the Opera House. She is production consultant. Her office is next to Palmer’s, off the Opera House lobby in an office previously occupied by Dick Dyer. The former Opera House director of marketing and development, Dyer now is marketing director for Waterville Creates.
Bryan said Monday that she felt it was time to step down as executive director.
“The Opera House is 113 years old,” said Bryan, 63. “I was a temporary caretaker. Catherine is the new caretaker. You do it because you want to pass something good or better to the next person. It is our responsibility. We are here to make sure to take care of what was given to us, and it is a legacy of this community.”
Bryan saw the Opera House through a successful fundraising campaign and $5 million renovation project in 2012 that was supported by a challenge grant from the Harold Alfond Foundation.
Bryan is matter-of-fact about her role as executive director for 11 years and the reason for passing the baton — including that she wants to see more of her grown children, who live outside Maine.
“I think I was put here to make the renovation happen,” Bryan said. “It stabilized our position here in central Maine. You have to believe in the mission and then you move it forward.”
As production consultant, Bryan will work on theatrical presentation on the stage, as well as marketing.
Palmer said her own work will be 80 percent development and fundraising and 20 percent administration.
“I’ve been asked to raise 20 percent more money this year than they raised last year,” she said. “I need the help of the public that loves this Opera House. We are sorely underfunded.”
As she and Bryan sat in Palmer’s office Monday, they talked about the Opera House and its importance to the community.
Bryan said everyone benefits from it, including the children who grow as they perform onstage and then move on in life, and the actors and audiences.
“It has been here since 1902,” Bryan said. “It is the reason why people come downtown more often than not.”
Bryan said she is pleased Palmer is on board.
“I’m confident her energy and enthusiasm will bring the Opera House to a sustaining level of activity. It’s all about staying active and alive here.”
A LOVE FOR THEATER
Palmer may not perform, but she loves theater.
She is a season ticket holder of the Maine State Music Theater in Brunswick and promises a joint production.
“We don’t know when and we don’t know where, but we will,” Palmer said.
She calls Curt Dale Clark, the artistic director for Maine State Music Theater, her mentor, and the Waterville Opera House a gem.
A Bangor native, Palmer attended junior high and high school in Andover, Massachusetts, and earned a bachelor’s degree in journalism from University of Maine, Orono, in 1972. She was a reporter at the Morning Sentinel for about a year in 1973 and then at the Portland Press Herald for about 10 years.
She worked for Sweetser’s development office in Saco and later secured federal and state grants and served on two nonprofit executive boards, Eckerd Youth Alternatives and Florida Center for Drug Free Living.
She said building relationships is important.
“Nothing happens without rapport, so you find out what people want to be acknowledged for and acknowledge them for that and that’s how I operate.”
Only two weeks into the job, Palmer already has a vehicle license plate that says “OPERA.”
“You have to love the theater because this is living at its best,” she said. “It’s joyful living. It’s music, dance, drama. We are all drama queens, but we do it professionally.”
A celebration is planned for Sept. 10 at the Opera House to celebrate Bryan’s work, welcome Palmer and honor Fred Jobber, longtime security officer for the theater. The fundraiser will support productions at the Opera House, and the public is welcome to buy tickets, which are $50 each, according to Palmer, whose birthday is also that day.
She said she wants attendees to add another 20 percent to their ticket cost for the Opera House in lieu of birthday gifts.
The celebration will include onstage entertainment being coordinated by Gary Poulin and Debra Susi.
In addition to Palmer and Bryan, the Opera House employs Tamsen Warner, box office manager, and Gerry Bard, technical director.
The Opera House is listed with the National Register of Historic Places.
Upcoming performances include Bossov Ballet Theater’s “Sleeping Beauty,” Thursday, July 24, and country singer Jo Dee Messina Sunday, Sept. 6. More performances are listed at www.operahouse.org.
Amy Calder — 861-9247
Twitter: @AmyCalder17
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