By Denise Reid

Contributing Columnist

In a few short weeks, there will be a changing of the guard at the Newberry Opera House. Deborah B. Smith will be retiring as the Executive Director and Molly Fortune, formerly of the Fox Theater in Atlanta, will take the helm of leadership.

Mrs. Fortune comes as only the second Executive Director at the NOH since its rebirth and re-opening in 1998. We welcome Molly Fortune and her family and feel confident that she, like Deborah Smith, will successfully lead the Newberry Opera House into new ventures with her own vision and her own style of management.

We certainly look forward to working with Mrs. Fortune, but first we need to stop and pay tribute to the person who has played a leading role in making the Newberry Opera House what it is today. It is time to remember “who brought us to the dance.”

In a manner of speaking, Deborah Smith has not only “brought us to the dance,” she has choreographed it, invited all to come, and has grandly entertained us with literally thousands of shows. Last year alone ticket sales reached over $1 million.

For over two decades, Deborah Smith has lived and breathed the Newberry Opera House. Giving untold hours of devoted service with long days and nights, Deborah has dedicated her life to making Dr. Jim Wiseman’s, Tommy Johnson’s, Cile Barber’s, Otis Taylor’s, and others’ vision, not just a reality, but a success.

With already the impressive accomplishments of having been the General Manager of the Stamford Center for the Arts and having coordinated the construction and opening of the Middlebury College Center for the Arts, Deborah came to Newberry after being recruited by Dr. Wiseman.

It was the beginning of a crusade in which both Dr. Wiseman and Deborah have led the charge valiantly. Imagine the Newberry Opera House as a dilapidated building with the threat of being torn down and only the concept that its renovation could provide not only grand entertainment but employment through tourism and industrial recruitment.

The $5.5 million was yet to be raised, and the theater itself was a vast empty dusty space inhabited by bats and even a hawk. I recently asked Deborah how Dr. Wiseman convinced her to take on such a challenge, and she quickly said it was the people of Newberry and seeing the Opera House and Newberry through their eyes that made her know she wanted to be a part of it.

For Dr. Wiseman and Deborah, it wasn’t just a concept, it was an inspired vision — a vision Deborah says that she had been proud to be part of. Deborah went so far as to even say her job was a gift, but undoubtedly, it was Newberry who was given the gift of her leadership.

From the standpoint of the performing arts, Deborah has brought fame and the famous to Newberry. From a financial view, the numbers are staggering. Harry Miley, the former head of the Budget and Control Board for South Carolina, has estimated that the Newberry Opera House has had an economic impact of over $500 million. Former South Carolina Gov. Mark Sanford honored Deborah by naming her South Carolina Economic Ambassador. Congratulations, Deborah, on a job well done.

Although never comfortable with taking credit or having the attention turned to her, Deborah Smith’s resume is impressive and reflects professionalism of the highest rank.

Besides being the Founding Executive Director of the Newberry Opera House Foundation, where she has managed and directed a 426-seat theater which presents approximately 250 shows a year, Deborah’s resume also includes a number of other worthy accomplishments.

She graduated from Elmira College in New York, earned a Masters of Arts from the University of Vienna, and completed further graduate studies at Yale. Coming from a family that dates back to the first Governor of Massachusetts, she is highly regarded on the national arts scene and has served on numerous panels for the National Endowment of the Arts, the South Carolina Arts Commission, the Vermont Commission for the Arts, the Connecticut Commission for the Arts, and The Association of Entertainment Professionals (AEP) Worldwide.

She was named Commissioner for the Vermont Commissions of the Arts and is currently Vice Chair of the League of Historic American Theaters where she has served on the Board of Directors. Deborah has lectured in Arts Management at various colleges, including Clemson and Yale and has been a guest speaker at numerous arts and planning conferences.

She has produced projects for the Edinborough Festival, the American Shakespeare Festival, and the American Place Theater, as well as having worked on several Broadway productions with Fran and Barry Weissler. True to her love of travel and adventure, it should be mentioned that Deborah is also a member of the Society of Women Geographers and is a proud Rotarian.

Although Deborah’s resume includes international achievements and awards, we here in Newberry are most proud of her work with the Newberry Opera House and her unwavering support of Newberry.

Deborah Smith, like the Newberry group led by Dr. Wiseman, is a visionary and a passionate person whose enthusiasm and positive attitude have been contagious. There is a 400-member strong Ambassador Program at the Newberry Opera House and approximately 100 member Newberry Opera House Guild to prove it.

Logging in well over 18,000 hours a year of volunteer service, these organizations were in great part the brainchild of Deborah Smith. She has worked alongside both groups for the love of the Opera House. Rolling up her sleeves and getting into the thick of the job to be done, she shows that she values other people and appreciates their work and involvement.

Then there is Deborah’s radio personality. Deborah could have a radio career if she wanted. It was been a joy to tune into WKDK’s Tuesday Morning Coffee House to hear the conversation between Deborah and Jimmie Coggins. Always an avid spokeswoman for the Opera House and Newberry, Deborah has informed us, educated us, and entertained us.

Her stories have been wonderful — especially the ones about her mother and her Uncle Fred, both who came to Newberry and became fascinating characters in our lives through Deborah. Deborah has suffered the loss of both her mother, Elinor Rungee Smith, and her Uncle Fred Rungee during the past year and a half, and we grieve with her but rejoice in their larger than life personalities and time in Newberry.

And now Deborah retires. I can’t imagine that the word retirement exactly fits. Often working day and night for the past 20 years, Deborah has not had time for many projects and as an author, there are new chapters to be written. As a matter of fact, there is the book her father, Robert Close Smith, was writing when he died.

The book begins in Boston during the American Revolution with a sea Captain’s adventures as he moves on to Charleston and then to Haiti. The manuscript needs finishing, and it is something Deborah has been meaning to do. There are travels to be made to Alaska and to Connecticut to tend to the affairs of Deborah’s family.

Deborah will be busy, but we hope that she takes time for herself and can at long last enjoy a show without having to be concerned about the lighting, sound, attendance and on and on.

Deborah’s official retirement date is Sept. 1 but Molly Fortune has asked Deborah to stay on a couple of weeks to help her in the transition. Then Deborah Smith will be leaving us, but only for a matter of months. Thankfully, Newberry has become home for Deborah.

Deborah plans to return, but true to Deborah’s gracious style, Deborah feels that the new director needs time to establish her own identity without the former director looking over her shoulders.

Deborah will always be the First Lady of the Newberry Opera House. We thank her, and we wish her well. We wish her safe travels, a muse on her shoulders, and a guardian angel to bring her safely home to Newberry where her family of friends looks forward to her involvement in other projects and her continued support of Newberry, the Newberry Opera House, the Newberry Opera House Guild, and the Newberry Opera House Ambassadors.

Thank you, Deborah. You “brought us to the dance,” and we are eternally grateful. May the music play on.

Denise Reid is president of the Newberry Opera House Guild and a member of the Newberry Opera House Foundation board.