DOWAGIAC — The Beckwith Theatre is on the hunt for something critical to their 2020 theater season — directors.

The Beckwith Theatre, 100 New York Ave. Dowagiac, has commenced its director search, which began in May and has a deadline of having every director and show picked by the end of August.

Finding directors is part of the theater’s play selection process for the 2020 season, said Jack Gannon, president of the Beckwith Theatre board. The first step to finding directors is posting on social media and other theatre websites, sharing with the public that the board is soliciting directors who are interested in purposing a play to the Beckwith, he said.

With a schedule of six plays per season, there are two avenues the Beckwith uses to selecting directors. One, a director can come to the Beckwith with a play they are interested in directing. The board would speak with them, to an extent interview them, but because the southwest Michigan theater scene is close knit, the board may already know the director, Gannon said.

“For local directors from Twin Cities Players reserves in St. Joe, South Bend Civic Theatre or Tin Shop Theatre, we tend to know the people,” Gannon said. “Directors in response to our appeal will come forward with plays they’d like to direct.”

At the same time, Beckwith has a play reading committee composed of board members. They read plays and frequently choose one or two they want to do. Then it is a question of finding a director, Gannon said.

Directors can pitch a wide array of plays, as the Beckwith tries to consciously have a diverse span of plays: comedies, dramas, one or two well-known classics and one or two more edgy plays, Gannon said.

“[Hosting] edgy plays are kind of more of a challenge to us and to our audience, but it’s something I admired about the Beckwith since the time I was a subscriber to now being on the board,” Gannon said.

That doesn’t mean the Beckwith’s audience is always in support of those types of productions, Gannon said.

“Some plays we produce, the audience, some of our core users, is not going to like, and they may not come to it,” Gannon said. “I think there’s an understanding on their part and our part that there is a value to doing plays that touch you in different ways than the more traditional.”

In terms of qualifications, if a director is someone the board is not familiar with, some director experience would be necessary. However, recently, an actor who has worked with the Beckwith for a number of plays came to the board and said he would like to direct a play chosen by the board this year. With no hesitation, the board said ‘yes,’ Gannon said.

Over the years, the directors search has helped develop relationships with other theaters. In the past few years, directors from Twin City Players have brought plays they have wanted to direct at the Beckwith, which have been excellent, Gannon said.

In return, some Beckwith actors have been cast in South Bend Civic Theatre plays.

“The play we are rehearsing now has an actor from South Bend Civic, and he is just an outstanding actor,” Gannon said. “That kind of cross pollination and linkage among the community theater groups, I think, is a positive thing.”