Episode Description
If theater goes away, what does Sacramento lose? A lot more than the show.
Lyndsay Burch, CEO of The Sofia and B Street Theatre, makes the case that the arts aren’t just culture — they’re infrastructure. They connect businesses, draw people to a city, and give a community a reason to be together when everything else is trying to pull it apart. In this episode, Lyndsay sits down with Mary to talk about the extraordinary balancing act of running a job that’s 100% creative and 100% operational, why B Street’s children’s theater is the future of the performing arts, and what live theater means in the age of AI.
“In a world full of AI, live theater is one of the last places where you can’t ask: is this real? It just is.”
Key Takeaways
- Why the arts are foundational to a city
- How theater is becoming more valuable, not less
- How to activate a theater to it’s full potential
- The evolution of leadership across Sacramento’s art organizations
Guest
Lyndsay Burch is the Executive Artistic Director and CEO of The Sofia: Home of B Street Theatre — the only full-time professional children’s theater left in California. She came to Sacramento for an eight-month internship from North Carolina. That was 13 years ago.
In her time at B Street, Lyndsay has directed more than twenty productions, written original plays for the Family Series, and produced hundreds of professional productions. She has developed new work with the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, American Conservatory Theater, and Berkshire Theatre Group, among others. She serves as President of the National New Play Network and is an alum of Yale University’s Directing Intensive and SDC’s Observership Program.
She believes the arts aren’t supplemental to a city’s identity. They’re load-bearing.
