Watford Palace Theatre Announce New Chair and Co-Deputy Chairs Of The Board

John Hunt has been elected Chair of the Board of Trustees, supported by Carol Lingwood and Kenny Rebecca Dada as Deputies.

This promotion to the position of Chair - with Deputy support from Carol and Kenny - offers the organisation stability during these unusual times as these are trustees with long standing relationships with Watford Palace Theatre and the area.

John was born in Watford and has been a trustee of the venue for seven years and Chair of the Theatre's Governance Committee for the past 4 years. Carol Lingwood has served on the board since 2016, and Kenny cut her teeth in Watford Palace Theatre youth theatre before gaining her degree from Oxford, and joined the Board in 2018. Carol stays as a Deputy Chair with special responsibility for Board recruitment and trustee succession planning. Kenny will become Deputy Chair with a special focus on the development of youth and community work. Current chair Deborah Lincoln is stepping down to focus on other charitable commitments in the sector, after leading the Board since 2015.

Brigid Larmour, Chief Executive and Artistic Director of Watford Palace Theatre, said: "John has been a brilliant long-term supporter and dedicated Chair of the Theatre's Governance Committee, so we are delighted to be welcoming him now as Chair of the Board. We are determined to work ever more closely with our local audiences and creative communities and John is exactly the right person to be leading this next phase."

New Chair John Hunt said: "I'm so excited to take over the role of Chair of a Theatre that has always been part of my life, as I was born in Watford and raised in Croxley Green. With the effects of the pandemic still with us, there are plenty of challenges ahead, but we are in good shape financially and have a great team, with Brigid Larmour at the helm. I'm especially excited to have the opportunity to build on the work of recent years in developing ties with the various communities that make up the population of Watford and its environs. I'd like to thank Deborah for her commitment and inspiration to the board over the past seven years. She has worked tirelessly and seen us successfully through a very difficult period involving the closure of the Theatre for many months."

Watford Palace Theatre inspires and entertains through inventive, ambitious, and inclusive drama, new plays, musicals, dance, and family shows; Imagine Watford, a free annual festival celebrating a range of outdoor performance art; diverse stand-up; and a much-loved traditional pantomime. It reflects its diverse communities, and fully represents women, both onstage and behind the scenes, whilst celebrating and developing creativity and skill in the community and with young people. Recent and ongoing community projects include Buffering, the first stage performance by the Palace Young Company at Stage in the Park, supported by the Garfield Weston foundation, and the Hertfordshire Film Festival produced in partnership with Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, the University of Hertfordshire and CathARTic Art. Forthcoming productions include a major reinterpretation of The Merchant of Venice with Tracy Ann Oberman as a female Shylock. Central to WPT's vision is its work with Resident Partner Rifco Theatre Company, and Rifco Artistic Director Pravesh Kumar is directing the Palace's forthcoming production of Abigail's Party. During the pandemic WPT supported freelancers in the Three Counties (Hertfordshire, Bedfordshire and Buckinghamshire) to develop new projects, through an open call-out supported by the CRF, and collaborated with local producers Harlequin Theatricals on Stage in the Park, an exciting and varied programme of entertainment in Watford's award-winning Cassiobury Park.

Previous WPT productions include Jan Ravens in Talking Heads; all-female productions of Gaslight and Much Ado About Nothing; the UK's first African-American Glass Menagerie; and Ayckbourn's Absurd Person Singular. World premieres include musicals Mushy and Miss Meena & the Masala Queens (with Rifco), and I Capture the Castle, and plays good dog by Arinze Kene (with tiata fahodzi), Poppy+George by Diane Samuels, Coming Up by Neil d'Souza, Jefferson's Garden by Timberlake Wertenbaker, and Jumpers for Goalposts by Tom Wells. The theatre's locally produced shows and home-grown talent have toured nationally and internationally, been seen on BBC iPlayer, won awards, and transferred to the West End.

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