Seven years after the birth of Greenfield-based Silverthorne Theater Company, Co-Founder David Rowland has decided to move off the company’s board of directors into an advisory position. He plans to stay actively involved in the future, especially as opportunities arise in the area of artistic direction or working with young people in acting or directing classes. He will retain an ex-officio status on the board.
“When Lucinda and I first began talking about starting a theater company back in 2013, I allowed myself five years to work on the project. That was seven years ago,” Rowland said in a statement. “When I look back over the last seven years, I still find it hard to believe how far we’ve come. To say the least, theatre companies are a fragile and often short-lived phenomenon. Yet here we are, just a few years into our corporate existence, and we have a wonderfully mind-boggling array of human and physical resources, not to mention at least a few bucks in the bank. And we have a terrific board of directors with four new and impressively talented members.”
Rowland’s most recent Silverthorne production was “Love Letters” by A.R. Gurney, which was performed in the new LAVA Center in Greenfield by three local couples as a fundraiser for the company. Previously, he directed Bertolt Brecht’s “Caucasian Chalk Circle” in STC’s inaugural 2014 season in the Rhodes Arts Center at Northfield Mount Hermon School. In the fall of 2016, his production of “The Complete Works of William Shakespeare (Abridged)” at the Hawks & Reed Performing Arts Center was so successful that the Company decided to make the fourth floor Perch in downtown Greenfield its new home.
Silverthorne Theater started out on the stage at Northfield Mount Hermon School, where Rowland developed and directed the Theater Program for 35 years before his retirement in 2013. He oversaw the conversion of Silverthorne Hall on the Northfield campus into the fully-equipped black box theater with shop, rehearsal and classroom spaces which served as the school’s main performance venue for many years.
During his time at the Northfield school, David directed over 100 main stage productions, many involving student cast and crew members like Laura Linney and Uma Thurman, Ya Ya DaCosta and Luke Rosen, who went on to successful careers in theater and film.
After Northfield Mount Hermon consolidated on the Mount Hermon campus in 2005, David worked with other arts faculty and the architects on the design of the Rhodes Arts Center. The Rowland Studio Theatre in that facility is named in his honor.