BusinessReport.com

Melanie Couvillon combines artistic ability with business savvy—attributes not always found dwelling together in the same personality.

But Couvillon, an LSU grad and former Episcopal High School teacher/theater director who immersed herself in musical theater in New York for eight years and has performed on stages across the country and the world, managed to return a struggling Playmakers of Baton Rouge to a state of robust health—with help from her board and on the strength of quality programming.

“My focus was to put on stage a quality production,” she says.

It worked. Ticket sales zoomed, old debts were paid off and Playmakers got down to the business of getting kids and adults excited about the magic of live theater.

Couvillon, who took over as executive director of Playmakers in 2005 and moved the operation into the Shaw Center last year, concedes she may be more organized than most “theater people.” But she rejects the stereotype of artist as business simpleton.

“There are so many people that’ll say artists are flaky,” Couvillon says. “I always hate that. If they’re flaky they won’t succeed either. They’ll just wander forever. If an artist doesn’t have any vision they’re not going to go anywhere. When I was in New York, I was my own promoter. I wasn’t going to work unless I got myself out there and auditioned and promoted myself.”

The journey from teacher to performer to executive director has been a “huge learning experience,” she says. Couvillon still manages to get her hands dirty directing, which helps feed her artistic side. Why all the fuss about children’s theater?

“I know all these kids are not going to be actors,” she says. “We’re teaching them how to be a professional, period, in whatever they do. Theater is a wonderful vehicle for children to learn about themselves, to learn about the world around them and to see what they can do—really build their self esteem.”

If you could have dinner with three living people, who would they be?

“Barbra Streisand, Carol Burnett and Stephen Sondheim. It’s a theater thing.”