Artistic Director

Pro Musica Rara occupies quite a specialized niche, performing mostly 18th- and early 19th-century repertoire on period instruments. Such a focus may not necessarily start stampedes at the box office, but the value is considerable. Getting in touch with the musical past is an endlessly rewarding endeavor, and Pro Musica Rara does it with determination, scholarship and, increasingly, technical elan. For its 32nd season, the organization will demonstrate those qualities in a new place, the Towson University Center for the Arts.

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 this week, was named to lead the professional theater company in residence at Howard Community College in November.

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.

Franklin gets post at Howard hospital Susan Franklin has been named senior director of patient safety, performance improvement and risk management at Howard County General Hospital. She is also responsible for infection control, patient relations and preparation/compliance functions for the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations; the commission conducts unannounced inspections. Franklin comes to the position from Memorial Medical Center in New Orleans, where she was most recently hospital compliance officer.

Alan A. Reich, 75, the founder and president emeritus of the National Organization on Disability, a voice in public forums for people with disabilities, died Tuesday of respiratory problems at his home in McLean, Va. The 23-year-old group, which he ran until April, is an umbrella organization that is active on a local, state and national level in seeking full and equal participation for disabled people in all aspects of life. Mr. Reich, who used a wheelchair after suffering severe spinal injuries in a diving accident in 1962, was a recipient this year of a George H.W. Bush Award, established to honor outstanding service under the Americans With Disabilities Act of 1992.

Beginning Tuesday, audiences at Totem Pole Playhouse will see a very different Carl Schurr. For the past two decades, almost every show at the summer playhouse in Pennsylvania's Caledonia State Park has begun with a precurtain speech delivered by Schurr, the Baltimore-based actor/director who has run Totem Pole since 1984. This month, he even bought a new white suit in which to perform his duties as official greeter. "It's tradition at the Pole that Carl gets in his glad rags and comes down the aisle and says hello," explains Schurr, whose full title is producing artistic director.

WATERFORD, Conn. -- The weather was worrying Wendy C. Goldberg on Saturday night. No, she's not a meteorologist. Goldberg is the newly appointed artistic director of the O'Neill Playwrights Conference in this New England town. At age 31, she's the youngest artistic director in the conference's 41-year history. She's also its first female artistic director. And, as head of this prestigious summer conference -- whose alumni include Lee Blessing, John Guare, John Patrick Shanley, Wendy Wasserstein and August Wilson -- she's making the transition to the national spotlight directly from Washington's Arena Stage, where she has headed that theater's new-play development program, "downstairs in the Old Vat Room," for the past five years.

She teaches music at the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, is the founder and artistic director of a unique chamber music group, delivers the popular pre-concert lectures for the Annapolis Symphony Orchestra and finds the time to raise her 5-year-old son. Rachel Franklin's life is driven by her passions. Franklin has been doing the pre-concert lectures with the ASO for seven years, and symphony President Lee Streby said he is exploring ways to expand the orchestra's music education program with her. "I can't imagine anyone more talented, engaging and knowledgeable than Dr. Franklin providing this important and much-loved service to the community," Streby said.

After judges narrowed a field of 61 vocalists to nine last weekend, the Annapolis Opera announced the finalists who will compete in Sunday's 17th annual vocal competition. Two are from Maryland, three are from Virginia and four are from Pennsylvania, with all nine possessing a strong educational background. The finalists are baritone Jason Kaminski and soprano Jung-A Lee, both of Maryland; soprano Leanne Gonzalez, baritone Nemeh Azzam, and soprano Lori Lind, all of Virginia; and baritone James Kee, bass-baritone Damian Savarino, soprano Brenda Atzinger, and tenor Jinho Hwang, all of Pennsylvania.