Danielle Varner and Keith McCoy Step Into Leadership Roles
Announcement Made Earlier This Year
The Springer board tapped two familiar faces to lead the Springer to the next level - Danielle Varner and Keith McCoy. They started their respective roles on October 1, 2023.
Danielle Patterson Varner, whom Paul Pierce, the now retired producing artistic director, has often called, “America’s best managing director,” has assumed the CEO portion of Pierce’s duties in the role of executive producer. Varner has served the Springer for twenty-one years, first in sales, then development, and finally as managing director. For the past six years, she has been overseeing day-to-day operations, budget tracking, board relations and historic preservation.
“Danielle is a rare asset,” Pierce said. “She has insight into every aspect of the Springer, its history and its essential role in the community. She has been an effective fundraiser, historic preservationist, cheerleader, mentor and servant leader. She makes friends wherever she goes and is a genuinely kind, generous and collaborative leader. Danielle was born for this moment and I am confident that she and Keith will create a dynamic partnership to make Springer Opera House a prominent national brand.”
Varner is a member of the Rotary Club of Columbus, the chair of the Columbus Cultural Arts Alliance and was named one of “Georgia’s Most Influential Leaders” in 2022 by Georgia Trend Magazine.
Keith Patrick McCoy is the Springer’s new artistic director. McCoy is well known among local audiences, actors, designers, technicians and Springer Theatre Academy parents. Earlier this year he was recognized with the Lift Him Up award for community service and excellence by the Courier Eco Latino, an independent Columbus newspaper. He is also one of the American stage’s most admired and sought-after artists. Over the past thirteen years, this Portsmouth, Virginia native has served the Springer as a guest director, actor, choreographer, and teacher and has become a dynamic driver of the theatre’s artistic success. A year ago, Pierce brought McCoy onto his team fulltime as a resident artist and then promoted him to associate artistic director in November of 2022.
Besides directing, acting and teaching, McCoy has been working to expand the Springer’s outreach efforts, seeking ways to attract new audiences and serve underserved populations. He will lead the process of choosing the theatre’s plays while cultivating fresh artistic talent both locally and nationally.
“Since he first came to work at the Springer in 2009, I have gotten to know Keith very well,” said Pierce. “I’ve directed him in many Springer shows and have grown to admire his talent, intelligence, energy, discipline and kindness. Keith is that rare artist whose notion of community” is very broad. He genuinely works to make the world a better place every single day. I am thrilled that he will now be the Springer’s artistic leader. Keith will add spice, excitement and a spirit of transformation to our theatre community.”
A graduate of Norfolk State University in theatre performance, McCoy has performed for countless regional theatres, summer stock companies, arts festivals and on national tours over the past twenty years. Springer audiences will remember him in lead roles such as Javert in Les Miserables, Jim in Big River, Crooks in Of Mice and Men, Jud in Oklahoma! and Walter Lee in A Raisin in the Sun. He has directed or choreographed Springer productions of The Color Purple, Little Shop of Horrors, Cinderella, Evita, Dreamgirls, Amazing Grace, and Fences. McCoy has also been a popular lead teacher for the Springer Theatre Academy.