Joe Gfaller is getting to know Clear Space Theatre Company’s community

Mid-December is a quiet time of year for Clear Space Theatre Company in Rehoboth Beach. The final show of 2023 recently finished its run, and the first show of the 2024 season doesn’t begin until mid-January.

That’s why Joe Gfaller, Clear Space’s new managing director, said he’s using the downtime as an opportunity to build a good rapport with the team at Clear Space and with local supporters of the two-decade-old theater company.

Gfaller (the G is silent) was named managing director in September. His first day on the job was Nov. 16. He is replacing former Executive Director Wesley Paulson, who retired in January after being with the organization for nearly a decade.

One day short of one month, Gfaller said it still feels like he’s drinking from the fire hose.

“I’m still meeting people and spending time getting to know what’s going on,” said Gfaller.

A native of New Jersey, Gfaller has spent his two-decade-long professional career in Atlanta, Ga., and St. Louis, Mo., most recently as managing director for Metro Theater Company, a professional theater for youth and families in St. Louis.

Gfaller said he and his husband, Kraig Turner, weren’t actively looking to move, but they had been talking about the next chapter in their lives. Rehoboth Beach was on the short list, he said.

“When this opportunity opened up, we figured it would be a perfect change,” said Gfaller, adding that he enjoyed his time in St. Louis, but it was a children’s theater, so it was limited in what was going to be performed. “It’s exciting to be at a place that does more than one kind of theater. Clear Space officers a full spectrum of different types of stories that can be told.”

Clear Space will be celebrating 20 years in 2024. Gfaller said he thinks the organization is primed to grow because of the population growth in the area. There’s going to be an opportunity for the theater to build on what it’s already accomplished by being an anchor of creativity as the community grows, he said.

The 2024 season, largely planned by Artistic Director David Button, was in place before Gfaller started working. Gfaller said it’s a great season, and having that in place gives him time to figure out how Clear Space’s achievements will be celebrated. 

Looking forward, Gfaller said he’d like to try and expand the theater’s offerings – a variety of late-night programs, commissioning of new works along with the tried-and-true favorites, more show times. A bigger tent, he said, so Clear Space can expand and diversify its program model.

Expanding the theater’s offerings may be on the to-do list, but Gfaller will likely be the one guiding the theater through the building of a new home. He said he’s aware of what happened with the theater’s previous attempt to build a new home and he’s going to build a coalition of support.

“Clear Space is not going to move across the county. Everyone here is deeply committed to keeping it here,” said Gfaller. “I’m in the enviable position of trying to figure out how to provide more shows because what Clear Space offers is in such demand. That’s not the standard issue across the country. It validates the belief I had when making the decision to come here.”