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KEENE, N.H. (MyKeeneNow) When Alec Doyle traded life in his hometown for the big city lights of Los Angeles, he never thought he’d return. Two decades later, he leaves a legacy to ensuring Keene’s historic performing arts center thrives for another century.
Doyle, of Keene, stepped down in March from his role as the Colonial Theatre’s executive director.
When he first arrived to start his new job in late 2003, he had already been running the theater division of his own nonprofit company, Beyond Baroque, in Venice, Calif.
“It was already the cornerstone of literature out there and I brought performance to the mix,” said Doyle. “It was mainly new writers and performance art.”
Among the nonprofit management skills he gained were renovating the performance space and putting on a fundraiser.
“I got to know the board (members) socially,” he said. Later, he served as director of a theater in Los Angeles and produced film and video with his own production company in addition to teaching acting and directing at nearby universities.
“After more than a decade of that, I wanted a change,” he said. “I thought I’d go back into theater and work for someone else.”
Instead, he answered a help-wanted ad for the position of director of the Colonial Theatre.
“The theater was going through a transition of leadership,” he said. “They wanted someone right away.”
By the time he returned to Keene, where he also grew up and graduated from Keene High School, the 1924 Art Deco-era theater had had nonprofit status for more than a decade-and a board of only five members.
Within a year, Doyle grew that number to 16.
He credits that increase to the work he did to deepen community engagement.
“It’s a great organization; it’s fun to be on the board,” Doyle said, “whether you want to be public-facing or behind-the-scenes.”
In his early days as director, Doyle initiated the organization’s first full-fledged fundraising gala event, held each November on the Colonial stage to support the theater’s education and outreach programs.
“There were no other fundraisers in that time period for other arts organizations,” said Doyle.|
One of these programs, “Send-A-Kid,” allows hundreds of students to attend a student matinee performance at the theater at no cost.
“People really respond to that,” said Doyle, who helped grow education and outreach programming by 50 percent pre-pandemic. “It’s been very successful. Without it, (kids) would have a lot less access to programming.
Another population served by the theater’s providing greater access to programming is low-income senior citizens, which Doyle said is done through partnerships with health and human services organizations and donors. Thousands of students and seniors benefit from these programs each year.
Outside his work at the theater, Doyle was a founding member of the regional arts advocacy organization, Arts Alive, which recently gave him (along with the Keene Sentinel) a 2024 Ruth and James Ewing Arts Lifetime Achievement Award.
He credits his staff for much of the theatre’s ongoing success, including reinvigorating the theater’s volunteer base, establishing a robust training program for volunteer ushers. This initiative helped rebuild the volunteer pool to its pre-pandemic strength.
“It brought people into the theater because they had some skin in the game; they had ownership,” said Doyle.
His proudest accomplishment as executive director by far is the $12 million renovation project he oversaw, which modernized the theater with up-to-date equipment, staging technology and décor. The project, which began in talks a decade ago and in earnest two years ago at the start of the pandemic, included the creation of a second venue, Showroom, to accommodate diverse programming.
“For me it’s always been about how we keep this historic place relevant for the next generations,” said Doyle. “(The renovations) improved the space so we could program in ways the public will respond to. By doing that, it allows the theater to bring more value to the community.”
The renovation project was part of the strategic plan for the theater he helped put together at the start of his position with the help of board and staff in order to make the theater a sustainable cultural center.
“It helped create greater inroads for partnerships with donors and in education,” he said. “Those were the big goals with that plan.”
Doyle was recognized last year for his efforts when the Colonial Theatre earned the Greater Monadnock Collaborative’s Ken Jue Nonprofit Business of the Year Award.
As executive director, Doyle enjoyed more than his fair share of perks – not the least of which was meeting famous performers.
He has more stories about them than he can count, but a few stand out.
“Luke Bryan was on the rise and did a mid-week show (at the theater),” he said of the star country singer. “You could tell he was not only super-talented and at ease with the audience but a complete gentleman and very nice guy backstage.”
Meeting one of his own musical heroes, Gregg Allman, was another highlight.
“He was a great get for us but also he was at a point in his career where we weren’t sure what we’d get,” he said, “but he played all the classics and his voice was as clear as day – he put on an (amazing) show.”
Other memorable meetings for Doyle include Joan Rivers (“She had a work ethic off the charts,” he said) and folk musician Rhiannon Giddens, whom he described as “a super-smart, multi-talented and gifted performer and a super-nice person to talk to about anything in the world.”
These events not only brought top-tier entertainment to Keene but also cemented the Colonial’s reputation as a premier performing arts center in the region.
As the theater celebrates its 100th anniversary this fall, Doyle’s work will serve as part of a significant era in its history and help the theater continue to serve as a cultural hub.
“This community has been supportive of the arts in a big way,” said Doyle. “These places exist and thrive because people want them here – they care about it.”