Meet Alex Goodman, Managing Director Of Oceanside Theatre Company

OCEANSIDE, CA — The Historic “Sunshine” Brooks Theater has long been considered the cultural center point of Oceanside and undoubtedly contributed to the city being named one of only 14 inaugural Cultural Districts designated by the State of California. Now, with a new 20-year City of Oceanside Use Agreement the Oceanside Theatre Company (OTC), is taking bold steps to meet the cultural needs of a growing North County community.

The first step for the previously all-volunteer OTC management team was to hire its first Managing Director, Alex Goodman. “The Board is excited to have Alex join the OTC team as Managing Director,” says Board President John McCoy. “Alex has been involved in live theatre since childhood and that lifetime passion, combined with years of theatre management experience in Detroit, Chicago and, most importantly, San Diego, will provide OTC with a solid leadership platform for successfully moving the organization forward.”

Now that he has been at the helm for just over a month, the Patch reached out to Alex to get the rundown on what's up for the future of Oceanside Theatre Company.

Patch: Before we get into your new position with OTC can you share a bit about your background?

Goodman: I was born and raised in the city of Detroit. It was a great place to grow up. I went to Western Michigan in Kalamazoo for my undergrad and then I was in Chicago for five years in the theater scene before I went back to Detroit for grad school at Wayne State.

My wife, Becky Goodman, who actually served on the board of OTC, she's one of nine kids. The first five were born in the Detroit area, so she was the first one born in san Diego. We met at Wayne State and we both earned our M. F. A from Wayne State.

We both also interned at the La Jolla Playhouse the summer between my 2nd and 3rd year and then a job opened up when I graduated and I started at the Playhouse 10 years ago now.

Patch: Moving forward I understand you came to OTC after serving as Managing Director of Carlsbad’s New Village Arts for nearly 6 years, with a year in between at the San Diego Children’s Discovery Museum where you led fundraising efforts as Director of Philanthropy. How did all of that come about?

Goodman: So the full story is that three years ago my wife and I started fostering and soon after that the world changed with the pandemic. Then in 2020, my wife gave birth to our first child and there we are with three kids in a very short period of time during Covid. At about the same time NVA embarked upon a capital campaign and a major renovation of the space making the managing director position an even bigger job. I recognized that my responsibilities at home had to be a priority so I started to look at other opportunities and ended up taking a job with the San Diego Children's Discovery Museum in Escondido.

It was an opportunity for me to narrow my scope to be responsible for fundraising as opposed to fundraising and marketing and operations and HR and all of the things that fall to a managing director. At the time it was a great fit and we did a lot of good work. But when this opportunity at OTC popped up, I became very curious. So I spoke with the OTC board and Ted Leib, the artistic director and asked everybody about what they thought the job needed and how I might be able to do that while understanding that the things that led me to leave NVA had not changed. I still have three kids at home and those responsibilities are still very, very important to me.

So we talked about strategic planning. We talked about a staffing plan. We talked about financial stability and how to use the COVID relief money and government support wisely. In the end, OTC offered me the job, I accepted and I'm really excited to be here.

Patch: We're so glad you did. Can you tell us more about what's in store for OTC?

Goodman: I see a tremendous amount of opportunity with the Sunshine Brooks and Oceanside Theater Company. I've been a patron for a long time. I think the first show that I came to see was in 2015. So I'm very familiar with the company and when I look at where we're headed, I see us continuing to do the things that we do well while expanding our arts and culture offerings. I envision a return to Stand-up Comedy, Variety and Dance performances. Maybe there's an opportunity for Magic or Improv. Whatever arts and culture the market is interested in, I'm interested in offering.

Right now I'm doing a lot of listening. I've met with many Oceanside leaders just trying to get a sense of the theater's position in the city historically and then what the opportunities may be going forward. I've had some initial conversations with some music producers of jazz and world music. I'm talking with a couple of different dance companies and people that are looking to screen films and all kinds of stuff like that. As a non-profit organization, our mission is to provide the community with a rich diversity of arts and culture and entertainment opportunities.

Patch: You've got a new show opening this weekend for a preview. Can you tell us more about Songs For A New World?

Goodman: Sure. Songs For A New World was originally produced by Teatro San Diego a brand new BIPOC lead, theater, dance and performance company. The show premiered as a streaming play because it happened in the midst of COVID-19.

The OTC production is an entirely new cast with a three-piece live band on stage. It's retaining most of the creative team but the other exciting aspect of our show is that Timyra-Joi is part of the cast. She is an AEA (Actors Equity Association) actor, who appeared on NBC's The Voice and recently completed a two-year run in Las Vegas' hit mash-up, BAZ!

We're very fortunate to bring all of the aspects of a live performance together under our roof. When you have live music, live performers and a live audience, it really is unlike anything else. If you take away the human element of any one of those, then you lose something significant in my opinion.

Patch: Very excited to see the new show and everything happening at the Brooks. Can you give us an update about renovation plans for the historic theatre?

Goodman: At the end of 2021, OTC signed a 20-year lease for the Sunshine Brooks Theater. Within that agreement, it requires a $500,000 dollar investment in the first five years. The first phase will be for the lobby and renovating the bathrooms, and the facade, and finally adding air conditioning.

I was doing a little research on the Theater over the past several weeks and I found a video from 10 years ago with leadership from OTC talking about some of the investments they were looking to make to the space. One of the things they talked about was the bathrooms. So 10 years ago the bathroom challenge was identified as a problem making it way past its prime today. If we can get the bathrooms renovated in the next 12 months it will have an immediate positive impact for our patrons and will generate more excitement about the future renovations that are in the pipeline.

The plan now, as it exists, is to have six individual gender-neutral restrooms that also serve the studio theater, the studio space and we plan to connect the two spaces as well. So we'll triple our capacity and that will allow for a better flow of patrons through intermission.

We are obligated to complete those renovations within the first five years of the lease. We currently have about $200,000 raised and we will be raising more over the next year or so. Then the second five years we're obligated to put $300,000 into the theatre space itself. So we have a lot of renovation ahead of us and will be phasing it in such a way that we can raise the money incrementally, and have phased improvements to the space that will hopefully improve the experience for patrons.

PATCH: Sounds like a lot of exciting things going on at OTC and for the Brooks. We're all looking forward to the next year or two of progress.

Goodman: I absolutely agree. This is a fantastic time to be at OTC and I hope to be here for a long time and to see this vision through. I also hope that I can get some other folks excited too.

Goodman will be responsible for fiscal management, operations and marketing oversight, and the development of a comprehensive fundraising strategy to support ongoing operating needs of the organization, as well as the upcoming renovation. He currently serves on the boards of North County Arts Network, The San Diego Regional Arts and Culture Coalition, and is the 2022 President of North County Philanthropy Council.

Goodman comes on board as OTC prepares for Songs of a New World, in conjunction with Teatro San Diego. Adapted from Teatro San Diego’s successful production streamed during the Covid-19 pandemic, “Songs for a New World”, written and composed by Jason Robert Brown, runs June 3 through June 26. This contemporary song cycle weaves characters and history together, illuminating the timelessness of self-discovery with each song and performer representing a form of social injustice in America such as Feminism, White Privilege, Gender Equality, and Racial Justice.

For more info visit, Oceanside Theatre Company.