As Michael Stebbins prepared to embody 40 characters in a one-man show that begins tonight at Rep Stage, the director, Susan Kramer, called him "elastic" and "a putty man."
That flexibility will come in handy in Stebbins' new full-time job, as well. As Rep Stage's new artistic director/producer, he will choose the season, oversee the staff, act as a producer and seek financial support, among other tasks.
Stebbins, who turned 40 Wednesday, was named to lead the professional theater company in residence at Howard Community College in November. After 13 years of leadership, the former artistic director, Valerie Lash, has moved into the newly created role of founding director.
Lash said the committee chose Stebbins "because of his wonderful energy and enthusiasm, his wonderful experience."
Stebbins, who was born in North Tonawanda, N.Y., and grew up in Kenosha, Wis., said that while New York has been his home base for many years, he has directed and acted in regional theaters across the country.
And in the past couple of decades, he has had a series of connections to the Baltimore/Washington area.
The relationship began in the 1980s, when he came to Baltimore with a song-and-dance troupe to work at the Six Flags entertainment complex in the Inner Harbor and stayed to study theater at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County.
After he earned a master's degree in theater and theater history at the University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee, he moved to New York. But he continued to work at regional theaters in this area, including the Woolly Mammoth Theatre and the Round House Theatre in Washington, the Maryland Arts Festival and UMBC's Maryland Stage Company.
He directed Lash in A Moon for the Misbegotten at Rep Stage in 2001 and has taught classes as an adjunct faculty member at HCC.
He landed the role in Fully Committed - a comedy about a struggling actor manning the reservation desk at a top New York restaurant - before he was named artistic director. The show will run tonight through Feb 26.
Most recently, Stebbins was the artistic director/producer for the Stage Door Acting Ensemble of New York. He said he realized that many theater professionals had "lag times" between shows, and he wanted to get them together to produce plays.
Stebbins said that experience, which included directing, stage managing, producing, fundraising and other activities, prepared him for the diverse tasks of running Rep Stage.
