LB Playhouse announces departure of its exec director

The Long Beach Playhouse announced Wednesday that, after a successful year and a half, executive director Lauren Morris will hand off the leadership to an interim executive director effective Nov. 5, 2011. The board of directors met Oct. 12 and voted unanimously to appoint Liz Lydic to the position. Lydic has been a volunteer at the Playhouse and has extensive and varied theatre management experience. “Lauren’s leadership of The Playhouse has been outstanding, and we will miss her both professionally and personally,” said Board president David Haberbush. “We wish Lauren all success.”
Morris said it was a difficult decision for her to leave the Playhouse when “so many wonderful things are happening.” “The community has really supported our efforts to create a thriving arts center here, and I will be very sad to leave not only the Playhouse, but Long Beach as a whole,” she said. “It is extremely important to me that the momentum we’ve created continues to grow, and I have every faith that Liz and the board of directors will make that happen.”
Morris will be the new managing director at Georgia Shakespeare in Atlanta, Georgia.