Cullom of Queens

NHTJ reader Ted Brooks sent this in: a page three article in Crain’s New York, the business paper, about Ray Cullom and his revitalization of the Queens Theatre in Queens, New York. Not where I usually think to look for theater news, but this is a multi-million dollar business transformation story.

Cullom, you might recall, was the Managing Director of the Long Wharf Theatre for a couple of years before accepting an Executive Director gig at the rapidly expanding, newly renovated space formerly known as Queens Theatre in the Park. Under Cullom, the theater has already hosted the pre-Broadway try-out of the musical Chix 6, is adding a cabaret room, and is booking over 200 nights this season, three times what the place had been doing previously.

Cullom was the guy who had to fire a whole bunch of people at Long Wharf in order to balance the budget and survive the national economic downturn. He’s had to swing an axe at Queens as well, but–as he was with the Long Wharf—he’s not just about stability but longterm growth. Sucks that Long Wharf couldn’t hold onto him a bit longer.

Long Wharf, by the way, has yet to officially replace Cullom. The interim Managing Director since he left has been the able Yale School of Drama grad Joshua Borenstein, who served Long Wharf earlier as Associate Managing Director.

Long Wharf will soon announce its own renovation plans, the follow-up to its wise decision to not move its whole enterprise downtown just yet and renew its lease in the Sargent Drive meatpacking docks for another decade.