Kudos: Joseph Walsh, Alice Fairfax, Flagler Playhouse fundraisers

I’m all full of holiday cheer this week: Goodwill toward all, etc., etc. So with that in mind, here’s a roundup of congratulations to Central Florida newsmakers in the arts.

First up: Congrats to Joseph C. Walsh, who has landed a new job as managing artistic director at the Lakewood Playhouse in the Seattle-Tacoma metro area of Washington.

Walsh had come to Central Florida in June 2019 to take up the post of artistic director of the Garden Theatre in Winter Garden. Known for championing diverse voices onstage and behind the scenes in leadership roles, he quickly made a splash on the local theater scene. I was not alone in my appreciation for the thoughtful, creative and sometimes unique work he did.

Among his achievements: His fall 2020 staging of “Hello, Dolly!” — carefully rehearsed and performed with masks and physical distancing — marked the return of large-scale productions to Central Florida after the COVID-19 shutdown. In 2021, he programmed Lorraine Hansberry’s “A Raisin in the Sun” in the Garden season, not an uncommon title — but this production featured the theater’s first Black director and first Black scenic designer. In fact, “Raisin” was the first play written by a solo Black author to be staged at the theater.

“It’s about time,” Walsh said after the show opened.

During his stint at the Garden, Walsh earned two personal nods on the Orlando Sentinel’s annual theatrical honor rolls, while his productions received multiple other accolades. Walsh won the Sentinel’s Critic’s Pick award in 2021 for directing the musical “A Class Act.”

When he resigned from the theater in the summer of 2022, the outcry over his departure triggered a mass exodus of staff members from the Garden alongside a social-media outpouring of outrage over the way critics of the theater perceived Walsh had been treated and the manner in which the board of directors sought to replace him. Eventually the theater was forced to suspend its season; it currently partners with Victory Productions to stage shows at the venue.

Artistic director’s shock resignation leaves Orlando theater community reeling

Since leaving the Garden, Walsh has offered theatrical seminars, directed a holiday show for Legoland Florida in Winter Haven, and staged plays and readings through his Ghost Light Theatricals. Just last month at Fringe ArtSpace, to commemorate the 25th anniversary of the murder of gay teen Matthew Shepard, he presented “The Laramie Project” and “The Laramie Project: 10 Years Later,” two plays about the effects of the hate crime.

His new gig takes him across the country to the Lakewood Playhouse, a 180-seat theater founded in 1938.

“We couldn’t be more excited to have found Joe,” said interim theater administrator Erin Chanfrau in announcing Walsh’s appointment. “His resume is a testament to our mission — we were blown away by not only the quality of his work, but his dedication to community.”

“I have worked to create spaces of belonging, education, safety and bravery,” Walsh commented in the announcement. “I hope to nurture a space of belonging for every member of our community to gather, share stories, listen and learn. I believe in the power of theatre to bring people together to nurture understanding, shared experience, conversation and collaboration.”

Speaking of collaboration, congratulations to longtime Central Florida arts consultant Alice Fairfax, who has published a book that just came out Nov. 28.

“Tell Your Story: Tools to Take You from a Tweet to a TED Talk” is designed for help nonprofit leaders effectively share their organization’s stories to help rally people around their missions.

“Most nonprofit leaders are already overwhelmed by the practicalities of managing their organization but they’re also expected to give speeches, post on Instagram, write email funnel campaigns, and now create a TikTok?!” Fairfax says. “It’s overwhelming. I hope to give them the tools to tell a great story.”

Fairfax is a longtime friend of the arts; she acted at the Annie Russell Theatre at Rollins College, Theatre Downtown, Orlando Repertory Theatre, the Orlando Shakespeare Festival, Universal Studios and Walt Disney World, where she did improvisational performance for more than 20 years.

Offstage, she helped open the Orlando Fringe Festival, SAK Comedy Lab, the Rep (now Orlando Family Stage) as it transitioned from the old Civic Theatre, Central Florida Community Arts and the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts.

As a storytelling coach with the Victory Cup Initiative at Rollins College, Fairfax has worked with groups such as Chance 2 Dance, the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra, MicheLee Puppets, the Florida Symphony Youth Orchestras and the Steinway Society of Central Florida.

Her current “day job” is as senior vice president of ideation & experience design at MQDC, a destination development company headquartered in Bangkok, Thailand.

Find more information about Fairfax and “Tell Your Story: Tools to Take You from a Tweet to a TED Talk” at alicefairfax.com.

Filmmaker Liz Sargent told her story in “Take Me Home,” a short film about two sisters — one of whom is cognitively impaired — that I detailed in April when it played at the Florida Film Festival. Quick update: The short is getting Oscar buzz as it draws industry attention with recent articles in Forbes magazine and at the Gold Derby website, alongside a highly positive review at awardsdaily.com.

Filmmaker gives sister a chance to shine: ‘I knew she could do it’

“Take Me Home,” which was filmed and set in Orlando, has had a limited online release with Vimeo and Omeleto, the curated short-film channel on YouTube. It is also one of the seven picks for the 2023 Sundance Film Festival Short Film Tour, which is expected to stop at Enzian Theater in January.

For more information, go to takemehomefilm.com.

Keep your eyes peeled for two Central Florida youths who will be far from home as they tour with hit Broadway shows. Julian Villela, an alumnus of Orlando Family Stage’s Youth Academy and the Dr. Phillips Center, will be one of the children playing young Simba on the national tour of “The Lion King.” Local audiences may have seen him as King Willoughbye in “Pickle Chiffon Pie.” The tour currently isn’t scheduled to come to Central Florida.

Meanwhile, Axel Bernard Rimmele is traveling the country as one of the children in “Mrs. Doubtfire” — and that tour will stop at Orlando’s Dr. Phillips Center in April. Rimmele has won accolades for his performances here in such productions as Orlando Family Stage’s “True North,” Central Florida Vocal Arts’ “The Secret Garden” and Theater at St. Luke’s “Oliver,” in which he impressed me with his “chipper cockiness” as the Artful Dodger.

Finally, a special shout-out to the theaters who are joining other organizations in raising money for Flagler Playhouse, which burned in an Oct. 29 fire, thought to be caused by an electrical problem. Many are stepping up for the Bunnell theater, about an hour northeast of Orlando, through donations and fundraisers.

The Ritz Theater in Sanford and Orlando Gay Chorus donated a portion of the proceeds from a “Mamma Mia!” singalong to the rebuilding effort, and the Athens Theatre in DeLand on Dec. 6 will present “The Gift of Christmas” as a fundraiser for the Playhouse, which has served Flagler County since 1978.

For more information, go to flaglerplayhouse.org.

Follow me at facebook.com/matthew.j.palm or email me at mpalm@orlandosentinel.com. Find more arts news and reviews at orlandosentinel.com/arts, and go to orlandosentinel.com/theater for theater news and reviews.