Richland theater director relinquishing the reins

RICHLAND -- It's been 16 years since Linda Hoffman first took up the reins as director of the Academy of Children's Theatre in Richland.

At the end of June, she will relinquish those reins when she and her husband retire and move to Florida.

Though the decision is bittersweet, Hoffman is embracing the change.

"I love to move. I always have because it means there's a new adventure ahead," she said. "I should have been a gypsy."

And she's only 62, so she has no thoughts of lounging around playing bridge at some old folks home.

"The first six months we plan to just play around," Hoffman said. "There's so much I'd like to do while I'm still healthy, like explore the swamps in the Everglades or jump on a moped and drive to the next oil spill and help clean up the birds."

Hoffman's departure leaves thousands of kids, parents and colleagues she has worked with during the past 17 years feeling a bit lost and more than a little sad.

"It's hard to imagine ACT without Linda," said Nancy Krupin, an ACT board member. "She has been the heart and driving vision behind everything we have accomplished since its inception."

Hoffman won't let herself dwell too long on the reality of her departure.

"It's been a wild, fabulous and fun ride working with all these kids and their wonderful parents for all these years, and they'll do fine without me," she said.

But this feisty, 5-foot-2 spitfire feels an ache in her heart as well.

"Ever since I made this decision, I keep asking myself how am I going to be able to leave my peeps," she said, using her term of endearment for all her child actors.

"ACT has spent a lot of years giving kids a safe place to have fun, where they are loved and encouraged to excel," Hoffman said. "It's proved it's worth."

It all started in 1994, when Hoffman, Ginny Quinley and Jo Brodzinski first got together to talk about the need for a children's theater.

"Ginny, Jo and I got together and talked about it at length," Hoffman said.

"Linda is awesome," Brodzinski said. "Her energy is infectious, her talent is outstanding, her dedication and love of theater is evident and her love of kids speaks to her success. ACT is where it is because of her determination."

Quinley, a drama instructor at Columbia Basin College in Pasco, described that first meeting as the embryo that ACT hatched from.

"This community has reaped the benefits. ACT under Linda's leadership has trained hundreds of children to be good audience members as well as actors," Quinley said. "At CBC, I see a difference in the caliber of students coming into my acting classes, many of whom have ACT experience.

"And I think this is why the high school productions have attained such excellent quality because most of their drama students were involved with ACT so they arrived in high school with basics already learned and typically with some acting experience."

Many of the kids Hoffman mentored have gone on to successful careers in Los Angeles and New York City -- such as Santino Fontana, who is acting on Broadway and Janet Krupin who's making her mark in Los Angeles.

And it won't be long before ACT begins attracting a second generation of child actors, so Hoffman's legacy will live on in the next generation, Quinley added.

For Julie Schroeder, ACT's education coordinator, replacing Hoffman will be no easy task.

"It's said that everyone is replaceable, but not Linda," Schroeder said. "She's Wonder Woman with a big heart of gold and when she leaves those qualities will go out the door with her. How can you replace someone like that?"

"Linda brought a unique set of skills in that she was not only a talented and creative artistic director, but also had an excellent grasp of the financial side of running a business," Krupin said. "Our plan now is to split these functions and hire two part-time people to help take ACT to the next level.

"We are interviewing now for an executive director who will run the day-to-day operations and focus on development. We then plan to hire an artistic director later in the year."

This story was originally published May 30, 2011 at 12:00 AM with the headline "Richland theater director relinquishing the reins."