Lamplighters Music Theatre Announces Dennis Lickteig as Artistic Director

San Francisco's internationally acclaimed Lamplighters Music Theatre is pleased to announce the appointment of Dennis Lickteig as its new Artistic Director. Lickteig has been a successful and popular stage director around the Bay Area since moving here in 1991. He has directed numerous musicals and dramas for various Bay Area theaters including New Conservatory Theatre Center, Broadway By The Bay, Hillbarn Theater, Contra Costa Musical Theatre, 42nd Street Moon, and many others. At the Lamplighters, he directed the 2008 production of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel. Other professional career experience includes Event and Audience Service Manager at the Lesher Center for the Arts, Artistic Director/Production Manager for the Peninsula Center Stage and he currently is the Director of Operations for TicketWeb (Ticket Master).

Upon accepting the position, Lickteig emphasized that one of his goals is to bring the Lamplighters into a more prominent position in the Bay Area performing arts community. He feels that many in the arts community need to be enlightened as to what Lamplighters produces as well as the adjunct programs they sponsor within the community. Along with visibility of the company, he plans to help discover new and innovative ways for the organization to succeed in the ever-competitive race for ticket buyers and subscribers. Lamplighters Managing Director, Sarah Vardigans commented "We are delighted to welcome Dennis to his new role in the Lamplighter family. His broad experience will help deepen the impact of the Lamplighters within the Bay Area Community, and we look forward to working with him."

Rick Williams, the former Artistic Director, stepped down from the position on April 1st, at the end of the 64th Season. He has been a member of the Lamplighters for 35 years and will continue with the company as a performer. "It has been my honor and privilege to serve this great Company as Artistic Director for the past 4 years," said Williams, "In that time, I have been thrilled to achieve several longed-for accomplishments, including the first fully staged and costumed production by the Lamplighters of Gilbert and Sullivan's final work, The Grand Duke. This was truly a landmark of which I am intensely proud. But it is now time for me to retire; I have reached my goals for the Company and can depart knowing it is in good hands. I will still be here, though, as a friend and member of the Company for the rest of my life!

Lamplighters Music Theatre was founded in 1952 to produce the comic operas of librettist W.S. Gilbert and composer Arthur Sullivan, and is now recognized as one of the world's pre-eminent Gilbert & Sullivan companies. The Lamplighters' repertoire includes all the surviving works of these creative geniuses, as well as a select group of comic operas and classic musicals by other composers that exemplify their artistic vision. Critically acclaimed artistic successes for the Lamplighters include honors for Best Production and Best Director at the International Gilbert & Sullivan Festival in Buxton, England and local awards in nearly every performance, direction, and design category, including Outstanding Production of a Musical at the 2015 Theatre Bay Area Awards for H.M.S. Pinafore. The hallmarks of a Lamplighters production are lavish costumes and sets, live orchestra, excellent comic acting, and gorgeous unamplified singing that showcases the beauty and purity of the human voice. The Lamplighters made Gilbert & Sullivan history earlier this year by transporting The Mikado from its traditional Japanese setting - criticized by some as culturally insensitive - to Renaissance Italy, resulting in an artistic triumph and a step forward for equity in the arts.

In addition to an active performance schedule, the Lamplighters provide performance and training opportunities in this unique style of classic music theatre to local artists, and seek to promote appreciation for the works of Gilbert & Sullivan through youth programs, school performances and other types of community outreach.

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