| April 2006 I Issue 20 |
For Amy Larson, her new role as Director of Individual Giving at The Laguna Playhouse is a “dream job.” As she explains, her current position allows her to draw on all her previous business management experience -- most recently as a Newport Beach broker and financial planner -- and combine it with a love of theatre born during her childhood years in Ohio.
Amy graduated cum laude with a B.A. in theatre from Bowling Green State. She also took a B.S. in secondary education. As an actress she trod the boards for almost a decade in a wide range of roles -- from Shakespeare to Neil Simon -- and was a founding member of Santa Ana’s Alternative Repertory Theatre. She even met Jake Smith, the man she would later marry, through a stage romance almost 20 years ago.
Amy, who lives in Las Fores, joined the Playhouse in 2002 as Development Manager. With the recent merging of the Marketing and Development departments under Greg Patterson, she was promoted to her important new role, which – given the Playhouse’s lean staff contingent – also embraces planned, some foundation grants and corporate donations as well.
Amy finds that her experience in building client relationships in the financial industry transfers naturally to her work in the non-profit arts. “Fundraising is first about friend-raising, about getting to know people, about building trust.” The trusting relationships Amy built with her former business clients have even carried over to the Playhouse. Several of them have become subscribers and donors.
Amy enjoys the collegial work environment at the Playhouse. “Our board, our trustees, our supporters, our staff; they’re all so passionate about the importance of theatre, about our wonderful educational programs. It makes my job so much easier and more pleasurable.”
Outside the office Amy is a keen golfer and she and her husband Jake love to travel, even if it means leaving their adorable four-legged feline companions, Franky and Micky, in the care of friends. And, of course, as former actors, they always enjoy attending Playhouse productions.
You may contact Amy by email, or by phone at
(949) 497-2787, extension 217.
Also In this Issue: |
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Late Nite Catechism 2: Class is Still in Session! |
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