May 2025

by Terri Roberts/Photos by Cooper Bates

Last Saturday, November 16, Fountain Theatre friends and family gathered in the Blossom Ballroom of the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel to honor retiring Founding Artistic Director Stephen Sachs for his 34 years of leadership and service to the Fountain and the Los Angeles theatre community at large. The occasion also marked the introduction of the Fountain’s new incoming Artistic Director, Raymond O. Caldwell, who will officially take over on April 1, 2025–the theatre’s 35th birthday.

The evening overflowed with expressions of love and gratitude for Sachs as one actor after another spoke about the impact of the Fountain on their lives and careers. Fountain favorites Tim Cummings (The Normal Heart, Daniel’s Husband) and Ed Martin (The Boys in the Band, Daniel’s Husband) co-hosted the program, and some of the Fountain’s most highly-lauded shows were represented by cast members, directors, and other creatives, including The Ballad of Emmett Till, Bakersfield Mist, In the Red and Brown Water, The Brothers Size, Cyrano, Citizen: An American Lyric, Between Riverside and Crazy, The Lifespan of a Fact, Fatherland and more.

The celebration closed out with a rousing speech from Sachs that was part gratitude, part remembrance, and, in typical Fountain fashion, part call-to-action. Enjoy these highlights from his remarks, and photos from the joyous event:

“…One night, my phone rings. It was Deborah Lawlor, a woman I barely knew. She was an independent theatre producer, renting different venues in town. She told me she had been involved in a serious car accident in upstate New York. She said, ‘Once I get back to Los Angeles, I want to get my own building and start my own theatre company. Will you run it with me?’ I did not know Deborah well. But, I had faith. We had faith in each other. 

We opened the doors of the Fountain Theatre on April 1, 1990: April Fool’s Day, an appropriate day to launch a nonprofit theatre company. Today, the Fountain’s doors remain open. Wide open to folks from all walks of life to come in and see themselves and their community, see their stories told on our stage. The ripple effect of the lives that we touch at the Fountain spreads from one human being to another. In 34 years, over one million people have passed through our doors…Today, the Fountain stands tall as one of the most highly respected theaters OF ANY SIZE in Los Angeles. The Fountain is known nationwide. Because of the Fountain Theatre, Los Angeles is a better place than it was when we started.”

“Tonight, we determine the future of the Fountain. It’s my honor to take a moment to introduce to you the guy who’s taking over my job…He has spent the last 16 years in Washington, DC as a director, writer, producer, and educator…Most importantly, his artistic vision, his commitment to new work, his focus on diversity and inclusion, his dedication to arts education, and his passion for creating theatre that opens eyes, changes minds, and touches hearts align with the mission of the Fountain Theatre. Ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to the Fountain Family … Raymond Caldwell.   

Now, I’m counting on all of you to help Raymond hold on to the core mission that has made the Fountain what it is, to offer ideas for improvement and growth, and to help him forge a new path for the future. 

The presidential election won’t make it easy. But it makes what we do even more necessary.

Because what lies ahead is much worse than we imagine…Trump Republicans will control the House and the Senate, and the Presidency…Americans will think less about “us” and care more about “me.” The America we’ve known is gone.

I’m still reeling. Many of us are in one of the five stages of loss: Denial, anger, bargaining, depression, and acceptance. Tonight, I am offering a sixth stage: Emergence. Emergence with a heightened sense of purpose. The most forceful way to discover your place in a country or community you no longer feel part of is to re-affirm who you are.”

“…Toni Morrison said, ‘In times of dread, artists must never remain silent. This is precisely the time when artists go to work. There is no time for despair, no place for self-pity, no room for fear. We speak, we write. That’s how civilizations heal.’

The Fountain Theatre needs you. We need you to show up, dive in, and stay at it. Because that’s what we do. When freedom, decency, and human rights are threatened, the Fountain Theatre responds. 

When the U.S. invaded Iraq, killing hundreds of thousands of civilians, we responded with What I Heard About Iraq.  

When Michael Brown was murdered in Ferguson, we responded with Citizen: An American Lyric.

When Trump imposed his extreme border policy, we responded with Building the Wall

When same-sex marriage triggered national debate, we responded with Daniel’s Husband

When Trump called America’s free press “the enemy of the people,” we responded with All the President’s Men.   

When the government started locking up immigrants and separating families, we responded with Detained.

When the Supreme Court overturned a woman’s right to choose, we responded with ROE.

When Trump announced his candidacy for re-election, we responded with Fatherland. 

And we will continue. In February, just 20 days after Trump’s Inauguration, we will produce the Los Angeles Premiere of ALABASTER, a play about healing and the power of women.” 

“…Hope will come. It just might be harder, and take a while longer, to get here….What we need in dark times is human connection. Empathy. Every play at the Fountain asks the same fundamental question: “What is it like to be someone else?”

I believe our humanity is enhanced if we can learn to see the world through the eyes of a migrant child. A homeless woman. A person of a color or gender not our own. We go to the Fountain to experience how someone else lives, to imagine what someone else might be thinking or feeling. To see life through their eyes. And, thereby, see ourselves. 

None of this happens on its own. It depends on your participation. It falls to each of us to become an arts warrior. The moment demands it. 

The Fountain doesn’t think small. Even with only 78 seats, I’ve always considered the Fountain a big theatre. Not “Big” in size. Big in impact. Big in vision. Big in heart.  

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And when it comes to work of the heart, the Fountain Theatre Board of Directors, led by our Chair, Dorothy Wolpert, embodies it. They are hard-working, dedicated people who are also really good human beings. They care deeply about who we are, what we do, and why we do it. I thank you from the bottom of my heart. 

My life was changed by a teacher. Jim Gilchrist taught theater at Agoura High School when I was there. He’s here tonight. I owe my life in the theater to you.  

Some theatre companies have a staff turnover problem. At the Fountain, we have the opposite issue. Our core staff has been together for many years. Scott Tuomey, Simon Levy, Barbara Goodhill, Lucy Pollak, Terri Roberts, James Bennett, Peter Carrisoza, Nathan James. My sisters. My brothers. You’ve given years of your lives to our dream on Fountain Avenue. Thank you. 

The fierce joy of Shirley Jo Finney still lives within me. 

There would be no Fountain Theatre, as we know it today, without Deborah Lawlor. She lived her entire life shining the spotlight on others, not herself. She was our Patron Saint of flamenco, and her hand touched every play we produced. I loved her dearly. Our Fountain partnership lasted longer than most marriages.

“To all of you here — each actor, director, producer, playwright, designer, stage manager, Fountain patron, donor, professional colleague, and friend — I will be forever grateful. You inspired me, you challenged me. You made me a better artist, a better leader, and a more aware citizen. By believing in the Fountain Theatre, you changed Los Angeles. 

A meaningful life is when you discover what you love and find a way to offer it to others. It has been the honor of my life to serve as the Artistic Director of the Fountain Theatre. Before I leave the stage, I do have one thing to ask of you. I’m asking you to have the same thing Deborah Lawlor had when she took a chance on me thirty-four years ago. 

I’m asking you to have faith. Even now.

My final thought comes from James Baldwin.

‘I pray I’ve done my work. So that when I’ve gone, someone finds something useful that I’ve left behind. And if I’ve done that, then I’ve accomplished something in life.’”