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The Citizen, 2016-12-01, Page 27THE CITIZEN, THURSDAY, DECEMBER 1, 2016. PAGE 27. King to step into Festival General Manager role A familiar face Rachael King has plied her trade at the Blyth Festival before, as a stage manager in the 2008 season. Now she'll serve as the Festival's General Manager after over 10 years of working throughout Ontario. (Photo submitted) By Shawn Loughlin The Citizen Rachael King, a native of Fordwich, has been hired as the Blyth Festival's new general manager. Although already hard at work in her new capacity, King will officially begin her time with the Blyth Festival on Jan. 3, 2017. King currently works for Exhibition Place as the production co-ordinator, but she says the world of theatre is her true home. In fact, it was an overnight trip to Blyth when she was 13 that she says "planted the seed" and made her realize that the world of Canadian theatre is where she wanted to spend her life. After that first visit, the Festival remained very "near and dear" to her heart and she undertook post- secondary schooling in the world of theatre in hopes of one day working for the Blyth Festival. She corresponded with the Festival's then -Artistic Director Eric Coates and eventually would log employment hours with the Festival in 2008 as an assistant stage manager. It was during that season that she first began working with the Festival's current Artistic Director Gil Garratt. Garratt was serving as the Associate Artistic Director at the time, while also starring in two shows on which King worked. King didn't return to Blyth for the 2009 season, because an opportunity to work in Australia arose, but when she returned to Canada, she continued to return to the Festival every season for shows whenever possible. Garratt also continued to track King throughout the country, hoping to one day bring her back to work at the Festival. "I have been trying to get [King] to Blyth since I got here," Garratt said. Garratt said that as soon as word was handed down that the contract of former General Manager Deb Sholdice was not going to be renewed, he began making calls to veteran general managers across the country. It was when King's name first came up that the new position vacancy and his hope of bringing King back to Blyth connected. He said that while much of King's experience is in the world of stage and production management, many of the skills associated with a general manager are the same. "Rachel is very, very ready for this position," Garratt said. King began her theatre education at the University of Windsor, receiving a Bachelor of Arts in the Drama in Education program before earning a Master of Fine Arts at the University of Iowa for Stage Management. She would win numerous awards during both educational stints. Soon after graduating she began working for various theatre companies, including the Blyth Festival, the Shaw Festival, Drayton Entertainment, Caravan Farm Theatre and Green Thumb Theatre, both in British Columbia, before she began working for other organizations like the 2010 Winter Olympics in Vancouver and Exhibition Place, which meant work with Toronto's hosting of the PanAm Games. Exhibition Place, which hosted nine of the Games' sports, was the largest PanAm site in Toronto, also hosting the outdoor Panamania Arts and Culture Festival. For Exhibition Place, King works on co-ordinating massive productions on the grounds, ranging from business conferences to the Royal Winter Fair to Sunday's Grey Cup held at BMO Field. She says there are a number of breaths of fresh air associated with beginning her life in Blyth and moving on from Exhibition Place and life in Toronto. First, King says that returning to Blyth feels very much like coming home. As a Huron County native, she knows the community, but is eager to make those connections and meet people associated with the Festival from the volunteers to the supporters. She's also looking forward to returning to a rural area after over a year in Toronto. Most of all, however, she's eagerly anticipating being a direct part of Canadian storytelling once again. "Though I spent some time in the U.S., from the get -go I had every intention of coming home and being part of the Canadian arts community," King said. She says that growing up in a community close to Blyth, so many of the stories that have been told over the years on the Memorial Hall stage have rung true for her and she wants to be part of the process of a community seeing itself on the stage. After knowing him for years and undergoing this process with him, King feels like she and Garratt will make an excellent team and believes they'll achieve some great things together. Garratt agrees, saying that one point on King's resume certainly stood out to him, which is that King was instrumental in the touring theatre process with the Green Thumb Theatre. He hopes that the Blyth Festival will get back into touring its shows and that King would play a crucial role in that process. King also says that she feels Blyth has great potential to be a destination for artists looking for respite from urban settings. Whether it's to workshop a show or to be inspired by a different setting, King feels that Blyth could be that place for artists. 10 DAVSf GIVEAWAYS TUCKERSMITH COMMUNICATIONS CO-OPERATIVE LTD. It's our favourite time of year here at TCC! During the 10 business days leading up to Christmas, ALL TCC customers will be entered to win our 10 Days of Giveaways + have the opportunity to pay it forward. Every lucky winner will be given an additional $50 to donate 1 of 3 charities; United Way, Huron County Christmas Bureau or the Heart & Stroke Foundation. All winners will be posted on our website & Facebookpages! Good Luck! Beats Solo Wireless Headphones -L).) J G; www.tcc.on.ca 519.606.2211 1 tcc@tcc.on.ca * All active customers as of Dec. 12th will be entered to win. Some conditions apply.