Listen first, then Create: Emily Tarquin and Amelia Acosta Powell Step into Leadership at ActorsTheatre of Louisville

By Cassie Tatum Photos By Matt Johnson

On a Wednesday morning, the renowned Actors Theatre of Louisville leaves behind the weekend’s vibrant chatter surrounding the most recent performance and slows, morphing into a quiet and cloud-lit space. So quiet in fact, you can almost hear the building whisper. It’s a place meant for listening, or more specifically, active listening, which we could all use more practice doing. 

Emily Tarquin, newly appointed Managing Director of Actors Theatre, implements the art of listening not only while watching and curating live performances, but while leading the community hub and state theatre of Kentucky through the process of rebuilding post-Covid. Tarquin, alongside newly appointed Artistic Director Amelia Acosta Powell, emphasize “listening first” to the needs of the Louisville community as they collaborate to shepherd the theatre’s sustainability for years to come. 

The Actors Theatre of Louisville has squared up to challenges since the pandemic, and with Tarquin and Acosta Powell at the helm, the space will continue its pursuit in life-long learning and community engagement. Since January of this year, both have been serving in their respective positions as interim leaders, proving to the board of Actors Theatre their combined abilities create space for future development of the theatre itself, and for the Louisville community that fills it with curiosity, creativity, and a love for experiential art. 

In their roles as Managing and Artistic Directors, Tarquin and Acosta Powell will serve as guideposts for the theatre’s mission: a storytelling revolution meant to unlock human potential, build community, and enrich quality of life by engaging people in theatre that reflects the wonder and complexity of our time. “We are both people who focus on the work, the mission,” says Acosta Powell, in regard to leaping head-on into executive leadership roles. “This is a step we are ready to take because Actors Theatre means a lot to us, to this community— and the community means everything” in terms of the theatre’s success. The pair are creating an “alchemy” of innovation and growth, all while keeping the needs of the community in the forefront. 

Tarquin and Acosta Powell are both “uniquely positioned to serve as a bridge” in this rare and strange moment, when entertainment rests in our fingertips, constantly swirling and distracting from the opportunity for connection provided by the events created and hosted by artistic spaces like Actors Theatre. 

It’s vital to retain the theatre’s loyal audience while also supporting and attracting local emerging voices, and younger, more diverse demographics. Actors Theatre has engaged the DeVos Institute and Christen Boone to lead a strategic planning process to support this effort. Tarquin and Acosta Powell plan to widen the range of stories shared by Actors Theatre, along with a variety of programs offered to the public. “We know our times are complex,” Tarquin posits, “and I think in some ways it’s harder, now more than ever, to lean into the wonder” that is emphasized in the theatre’s mission. By implementing programs specifically geared toward all ages and audiences, Actors Theatre will “provide that respite, that relief, and be a source of joy,” to the masses. 

Reenergizing the theatre and fostering that necessary joy doesn’t only mean introducing newness to Actors Theatre. Instead, Tarquin and Acosta Powell plan to reincorporate beloved classic “stories that feel familiar,” like A Christmas Carol. Inherent in live performance is the element of surprise, so even if you know the story by heart, “you don’t know exactly what will happen in that room on that night,” says Tarquin. Each performance differs from the next as the audience informs the actors and vice versa, creating an immersive and centered audience experience. 

Tarquin and Acosta Powell plan to enmesh the quintessential performances with “new stories that people can be surprised by, learn from, and expand who feels seen and represented at Actors Theatre of Louisville.” The world premiere of FDR’s Very Happy Hour kicks off on October 15th, a performance that experiments with how stories can be shared and viewed. The show, centered around President Franklin Delano Roosevelt, was “written by a wheelchair user,” Acosta Powell explains, “and performed by an actor who uses a wheelchair and an actor who is deaf.” Every performance will offer ASL interpretation, captioning, audio description, and, of course, wheelchair seating. “Not just at the back of the house where the traditional wheelchair seats are,” Acosta Powell notes, “but on the stage, at the center of the action.” To Tarquin and Acosta Powell, accessibility allows for a broadening of audience, offering experiential art and programming to everyone. 

The passion behind Tarquin and Acosta Powell’s leadership as Managing and Artistic Directors is visceral, and grounded in their individual goals is a shared sense of belonging. They are asking us, the Louisville community, to witness the beauty of artistic creation, to participate in the equitable spread of knowledge through story, to actively listen, and, most importantly, to lean into the wonder of theatre.