Andrew Driscoll says he’s both an entrepreneur -- and a creative.
A Peoria native, Driscoll started his career performing in “Miss Saigon” on Broadway. After 9/11 he came home to Peoria, started a non-profit theater, and then moved into a for-profit venture called The Waterhouse.
In the aftermath of the pandemic, Driscoll wanted to change direction again. He was about to apply to be the general manager of Goodman Theatre in Chicago when something caught his eye way down at the bottom of an online job board.
It was the job listing seeking a new leader at the Orpheum Theatre in Galesburg.
“We all have those moments in life where something comes into your mind. You ingest the information and everything about it goes, this is it. I felt that everything that I had done up to this point prepared me for a position like this at the Orpheum,” Driscoll said.
The Orpheum’s board of directors agreed with him on that. Driscoll has been the executive director of “The Jewel of Galesburg” for around two months.
The change in leadership comes after the Orpheum conducted a community survey earlier this year that revealed the community wants more programming and more community engagement from the historic theater.
Driscoll spent his first couple months on the job building relationships with community leaders, local businesses, and patrons of the Orpheum. He also started to fill out the summer schedule and started raising money to bring in more acts.
He said every single patron he’s talked to is excited about the Orpheum.
“It’s just a matter of communicating the information of what we have going on and what’s going to appeal to them in a way that they’re going to hear about it, prioritize it, and then attend it,” he said. “And making sure the type of programming that we’re bringing in are ones that are going to suit them.”
Driscoll plans to implement tiers of programming, with a main season of five or six shows, supplemented by other acts from country to old time rock ‘n roll to comedy.
His ultimate goal is to work with the board to execute a vision for the Orpheum that provides more for the local community and can draw people from the Quad Cities to Peoria and beyond.
Driscoll said he’d like to see a 50-50 balance between local organizations renting and using the theater for performances and bringing in outside acts. He’d also like to improve the average attendance for Orpheum events. The theater seats 900 but the average attendance is around 250.
A couple months into his new role, Driscoll said it’s a challenging position with a lot of moving parts.
“Those challenges are not ones that make me run for the hills. They’re opportunities for improvement and opportunities to kind of change the trajectory of the Orpheum,” he said.
Driscoll already brought one act from his Peoria days -- Central Illinois Dueling Pianos -- to raise money for upcoming shows.
Peoria comedian and radio personality Greg Batton will take the Orpheum stage on Aug. 24 with his “Life in Boxes” show for another fundraiser to help the Orpheum get going on its new vision.
Between the two shows, Driscoll hopes to raise $20,000 for the Orpheum.
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