Erie Playhouse chief looking ahead to big shows, bigger tent. What can theater fans expect?
Zach Flock, 40, said he pinches himself when he walks into the Erie Playhouse auditorium.
"I say, 'This is where I work now!'" the Playhouse's executive director said, incredulous. "I have the best job in the city."
'Lifelong addiction'
Flock grew up in New Stanton, near Latrobe, performing with the Greensburg Civic Theatre. He got a bachelor's degree in Theatre and Communication Arts and a master's degree in Public Administration from Gannon University. Flock was a founding artistic director of Dramashop and worked there from 2011 to 2022.
Flock's first stage role came along when he was 12, when he played one of the royal children in "The King and I."
"This is a lifelong addiction," he said with a laugh.
Before he was hired in Erie, he and his wife, Jessica Flock, were living in Latrobe and he was serving as director of marketing and communications for Saint Vincent College there. He said when he and his wife found out about the executive director job opening at the Playhouse, they didn't talk about it for a week. But then, he said, they had both come up with the same response: This was an opportunity he couldn't pass up.
The Playhouse did a national search to fill the executive director's roll after Kate Neubert-Lechner resigned Jan. 2, 2023, as did the Youtheatre director Domenic Del Greco and several other employees and board members, all of whom have been replaced.
The Erie Playhouse has been in existence for at least 100 years, according to its website. Converted from the Strand Theater movie house in 1947, it became the home of the Playhouse in 1983. A $1.4 million donation from LECOM in 2017 made a new marquis and renovation of the facility possible.
Flock and the Playhouse now have a shared history, and Flock isn't looking back. He's got too much in front of him, including a brand new season of what he calls "blockbusters."
The season, which started in January with "Tootsie," will include the play "Inherit the Wind," musicals "Diary of a Wimpy Kid," "Newsies" and "Guys & Dolls," play "The Shawshank Redemption," and musicals "Sweeney Todd" and "Beauty and the Beast."
The 2025 season opener, was announced Tuesday.
“We are thrilled to be among the first community theatres to produce "Waitress", [to be] running Jan. 31 through Feb. 16, 2025,” said artistic director Richard Davis, saying they were approved to perform the hit by Musical Theatre International.
"MTI offered us the opportunity to make history again as one of the first nonprofessional companies to produce the hit Broadway musical. We jumped at the chance!” Davis said.
"Exciting new things are happening at the Playhouse," said Flock, who started the job May 15. "We're building on what made this a community icon.
"I definitely didn't come in to tear things down and start over," he said. "The highlights of the 2024 season are familiar to people and I think that will bring them in."
Flock said now he's busy identifying "what the Playhouse does well" and building on it.
That, he said, includes doing big shows.
"We do shows and elaborate productions that no one else other than Broadway tours can offer," he said. "We're going to keep doing that."
He said "Tootsie" was well-received.
"That's the stuff that is our bread and butter and it's what people expect of us," Flock said.
Going to need a bigger tent
His said his next priority, however, is to do more community outreach.
"We want to be more representative of this community's diversity and talent," he said. "We want to embrace those differences and make everyone feel welcome and included, because that is what opens doors to more shows we can produce. We want to tell more stories."
"It takes time," he said. "But step one is to be welcoming. It can be intimidating to some. We can't sit back and wait for them to come to us."
He described a program he hopes to work with the new Youtheatre and education director, Ahnika Lexvold, to help build theater programs in regional schools, from elementary through high school. The programs will include classes, summer camps, Youtheatre productions and Playtime, which aims to teach the arts connecting books from the Imagination Library to song, drama, movement and visual arts.
"Again, these programs expand our reach," he said. "I've seen firsthand the positive impact it has on people who get involved. From my own childhood doing theater, of course, and I see a lot of young people here. It's like finding my tribe, finding where I fit in. Not all kids excel at sports or school.
"For a lot of kids, the theater is where they feel like they can shine."
He said the same goes for the adults who get involved in Playhouse productions.
"It's an escape from work, you connect with people who share an interest," he said. "It's fun to come together with people and create something."
They go way back
Flock hired longtime friend and co-worker Nicole Lossie to head up public relations for the Playhouse. He didn't need a national search for Lossie, who was working in PR for Gannon.
"Zach and I have worked together in various capacities," Lossie said, adding that they both met their respective spouses performing in shows at the Playhouse.
"I knew it was an opportunity of a lifetime," she said. "To do marketing and theater and collaborate with Zach."
She called Flock "incredibly creative, even on the business side and he is very collaborative.
"There's no ego to fight with or an attitude of 'I'm the leader, you follow what I do,'" she said. "He said 'we're going to surround ourselves with people who want to contribute and work passionately. He makes everything a collaborative effort.
"That's a leader you want to follow."
Passion play
Flock believes entertainment and the arts have a role in any healthy and vibrant community.
"It's often said that one of the signs of a healthy and strong community is in its arts and culture sector," he said. "You can't under-sell how important the arts are to economic development and revitalization."
Relationships and resources: Anne O'Dell promotes Erie Arts & Culture in region
Homecoming
Zach Flock has served with several organizations in Erie before he left for Latrobe in March of 2022:
Associate director for communications, undergraduate admissions at Gannon University
Director of Enrollment Communications & Technology at Gannon
Founding Artistic Director at Dramashop, another of Erie's community theaters
Program associate for membership, allocations and marketing for the Arts Council of Erie (now known as Erie Arts & Culture)
He said as far as he and his wife are concerned, so far so good. After several months on the Playhouse job, Zach Flock said he still feels like it's the opportunity of a lifetime.
"This is like coming home to me," he said.
Briefly
Zack Flock said he hasn't acted in at least a decade, preferring to work behind the scenes, but some of his own most memorable roles have included:
Leo Bloom, the part originated on stage by Matthew Broderick in "The Producers," Erie Playhouse
Tin Man in "The Wizard of Oz," junior year at Hempfield Area High School in Greensburg, Pa.
Edgar Allan Poe in "Nevermore," a musical about the legendary wordsmith, at Dramashop, the theater company he helped found in Erie in the Renaissance Centre at 1001 State St.
Contact Jennie Geisler at jgeisler@timesnews.com. Or at 814-870-1885.
This article originally appeared on Erie Times-News: Erie Playhouse leader wants to do big shows and more outreach
