The United Theatre Names Lisa Utman Randall Executive Director And Tony Nunes Artistic Director

The United Theatre board of directors, led by Board Chair Maureen Fitzgerald and Co-Chair Charles Royce, announce that they have hired Lisa Utman Randall to lead the organization as Executive Director, and have named Tony Nunes as Artistic Director. Construction officially began on downtown Westerly's United Theatre project this past summer - following a groundbreaking in May. The comprehensive, $12 Million project will renovate and combine both the original United Theatre, as well as the adjacent, connected former Montgomery Ward building into a vibrant arts complex with a multi-screen cinema, multi-use performance venues, and a world-class arts education center. The timeline for the project is looking towards a Fall 2020 opening.

Lisa Utman Randall is a recognized leader in the non-profit arts sector in Rhode Island. She attended Emerson College and the University of Massachusetts at Boston and earned her B.A. in english literature. She is a certified Montessori Teacher, an occasional poet, and an award-winning journalist. Lisa co-founded Island Arts in Newport, RI in 1991 and was the Executive Director for 14 years, after which she served as the Director of Development for RiverzEdge Arts Project in Woonsocket, RI. She is the founding Executive Director of the Jamestown Arts Center in Jamestown, RI where she began in 2009. Her short answer to "where are you from" is Camden, Maine, but she was born in Maryland and has lived in England and Boston among other places. She lives in Saunderstown with her artist husband, Luke Randall. The couple has two grown children.

Tony Nunes has been working with The United Theatre project since 2013, first as a volunteer and then as an event and marketing consultant. Prior to coming on as Artistic Director in October of 2019, he was Assistant Vice President of public relations for Washington Trust, and before that served as a member of the public relations team at Mohegan Sun. Tony holds his B.A. from the University of Rhode Island where he was one of the first to graduate from URI's film media program. A passionate writer, he is a core contributor for the parenting blog GeekDad, an award-winning screenwriter, and a past entertainment writer for film publications including Fangoria and Starlog magazines. Born and raised in Westerly, and a Westerly High School graduate, Tony currently lives in nearby Hopkinton with his wife Marybeth and their three children.

As an organization, the non-profit United Theatre is working with other cultural, creative, and education-driven organizations throughout the region to form partnerships which will position the space as a community center for the arts. Among those partners are the Rhode Island Philharmonic & Music School, which will run a branch of its music school out of The United Theatre's education center; The Public's Radio (RI NPR) which is building a South County, RI bureau for the station within The United; and programming partners including the Newport Folk and Jazz Festivals, Trinity Rep, Bob Ballard's Ocean Exploration Trust, and many others.

The United Theatre space will include a versatile black-box theatre for live music, theater, opera, lectures, dance, etc.; a three-screen first-run cinema; gathering and exhibit space; a public radio bureau; a restaurant; and an 11,000 square foot education center for music, film, visual and performing arts.

The United Theatre is a regional center for the arts and arts education located in downtown Westerly, Rhode Island. The mission of The United is to showcase world-class performing, visual, and creative arts and to serve as a regional center for arts education. First opened as a vaudeville theatre and cinema in 1926, The United was reestablished as a registered 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization in 2014. Its vision is to unite the community as a hub for arts in the region and a home for local, national, and International Artists to showcase their work, including; film; music; theatre; opera; dance; visual arts; and more. Learn more by visiting www.unitedtheatre.org. [unitedtheatre.org]

To post a comment, you must register and login.