web1_Plains-Township-Police.jpg

Police: Wanted man found inside vehicle in Plains Twp.

web1_guentzel.jpg

Penguins prospects make an impression during 2016 Rookie Tournament

Will Beekman has worked at the F.M. Kirby Center since 2010, including the past three years as its director.But the theater hasn&#8217;t been his life&#8217;s work. The Poconos native and Penn State graduate worked for the Wilkes-Barre/Scranton Penguins from 2002 to 2008, and at the Bryce Jordan Center arena in University Park from 2008 to 2010.He was appointed the Kirby Center&#8217;s managing director in December 2013 and promoted to executive director on Jan. 1, 2015.In a recent interview with the Times Leader, Beekman, 38, talked about his past, his present and his vision for the Kirby&#8217;s future, as well as about Elvis Costello and his beloved New York Mets.The interview has been edited for brevity.Q: What did you do with the Penguins?A: Everything. I started out as their communications manager, worked in their marketing department for a few years, and ended up becoming their director of creative services.Q: How did you become executive director at the Kirby Center?A: Well, I worked here for a few years in marketing, and then our programming director at the time left for a new job. Marilyn Santarelli (the Kirby&#8217;s executive director at the time) said, &#8220;Do you think you can book shows?&#8221; I said yes, and I really meant no. I figured I would just jump and kind of learn how to fly on my way down, so I started and I worked really hard and I went to a bunch of booking conferences and I started to understand that part of the business. I booked shows and was handling the marketing for a year or two, and Marilyn retired after 15 years here. I figured people don&#8217;t come and go in those positions often, so as much as I felt it was a long shot, I figured I&#8217;d throw my hat into the ring for that (executive director) position. I interviewed for it with the board, and I was surprised when I was told. In a lot of ways when I think about it 2 1/2 years later now, I&#8217;m still surprised by it.Q: What is your mission at the Kirby, and how are you embodying that with your tenure?A: To bring the arts and arts education into this community. We want to be the place in this area where you can go to see the opera because you aren&#8217;t going to see it anywhere else. It&#8217;s about introducing kids to the arts and to live theater at an early age. It sounds cliche, but it&#8217;s just as important for us, if not more important for us, to book the ballet than it is for us to book Jerry Seinfeld.Q: Pollstar recently named the Kirby one of the Top 100 theater venues in the world. What was it like when you got that news, and what did you think?A: Well, that was their mid-year report, so our immediate goal is to keep ourselves in that top 100 for when they come out with the year-end results in January. We broke into the top 200 last year for the first time, and then we set a goal to get into that top 100. We know we&#8217;ve been busy, and we know we&#8217;re selling tickets, but you can&#8217;t speak for all the other venues out there and how well they&#8217;re doing. I think what we&#8217;re proud of the most is you see the F.M. Kirby Center on the same list as Radio City or Royal Albert Hall or Chicago Theatre or Fox Theatre in Atlanta.Q: What do you see for the Kirby Center&#8217;s future?A: I think we just want to keep improving overall as a performing-arts center in every aspect. We want to continue to be financially sustainable and keep this building, this 1938 building. There are some old pipes in here, and there&#8217;s a lot that we need to do to keep this building operating. The roof&#8217;s an old roof. The floor&#8217;s an old floor. We&#8217;re continuing to do what we do from a programming and fundraising standpoint while focusing on keeping this building intact.Q: Do you have any memories of the Kirby Center as a child? Does anything notable stick out in your head?A: I do and it&#8217;s funny. I was here once my entire life prior to coming here for the interview. I grew up in the Poconos, and when I was younger if you needed to get anything done, wanted to rent a movie or get a haircut &#8211; I don&#8217;t have to worry about that these days &#8211; or go to the mall you had to go either a half-hour south to Stroudsburg or a half-hour north to Scranton. We never really ventured to Wilkes-Barre. It was 1991 and I was right around the age when you start to realize your parents&#8217; music isn&#8217;t lame and all of a sudden this Bob Dylan guy that I always thought was just some guy with a weird-sounding voice was just this incredible songwriter and he was coming here. My parents, I overheard them talking like they were getting tickets to see Bob Dylan, and I said I wanted to go. I remember how excited my dad was that I wanted to see Bob Dylan. I still have my ticket stub. He did two sets, no opener. He did an acoustic set that was just amazing, and then he did an electric set, which was still amazing, but I&#8217;ve always felt Dylan electric lost the lyrics in the mix.Q: What is your favorite act you&#8217;ve booked so far?A: To this day, it&#8217;s still Elvis Costello (in 2013) for multiple reasons. One, I&#8217;m just a big fan. I watched him sound check for two hours. He signed (a promotional) guitar after that. An hour later doors opened and he played for 2 1/2 hours, so I got to see him perform for about 4 1/2 hours that night.Q: What is the one dream act you&#8217;d like to book that you haven&#8217;t gotten a chance to yet? Something that&#8217;s feasible.A: I think it&#8217;s feasible but unlikely, but hands down it&#8217;s Tom Waits. Probably my favorite artist of all time, and I&#8217;ve never had the opportunity to see him live.Q: What helps you wind down from work?A: These days it&#8217;s play with my kids. My 10-month-old doesn&#8217;t play a lot yet, but my 3-year-old, she&#8217;s my buddy. I know it sounds corny, but driving my kids home from day care, giving them both a bath every night because that&#8217;s our time to just kind of chat and talk, they are my everything. Beyond that I&#8217;m a huge (New York) Mets fan. My wife hates baseball season because my mood is dictated by whether they win or lose, and they&#8217;re not having a great year this year, so I&#8217;ve been grumpy more than not.<style>
.neFileBlock {
	margin-bottom: 20px;
}
.neFileBlock p {
	margin: 0px 0px 0px 0px;
}
.neFileBlock .neFile {
	border-bottom: 1px dotted #aaa;
	padding-bottom: 5px;
	padding-top: 10px;
}
.neFileBlock .neCaption {
	font-size: 85%;
}
</style>
<div class='neFileBlock'>
<div class="neFile"><img class="neImage" src="https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_Beekman-QA-3.jpg">
<div class="neCaption">Kirby Center Executive Director Will Beekman says the show he most would like to book at the venue is musician Tom Waits. </div></div><div class="metaInfo"><photo0>https://www.timesleader.com/wp-content/uploads/2016/09/web1_Beekman-QA-3.jpg</photo0><caption0>Kirby Center Executive Director Will Beekman says the show he most would like to book at the venue is musician Tom Waits. </caption0><photoCredit0></photoCredit0></div></div>
<div class="metaInfo"><bylineMeta>By Gene Axtongaxton@www.timesleader.com</bylineMeta></div><div class="metaInfo"><factboxMeta>KIRBY CENTER EXECUTIVE DIRECTORSStephen Carr 1986-87Curtis Montz (acting) 1987-89John Loesser 1989-91Dennis Madden 1991-92Tom Hillgrove 1992-98Marilyn Santarelli 1999-2014Will Beekman 2015-present</factboxMeta></div>

Q&A: Kirby chief Will Beekman talks about his role, his vision — and the Mets