Charles H. Massey - Executive Director, N.O.H.A.
It is only natural that Charles H. Massey should be back in the Newport Opera House following an absence of almost thirty years. He was responsible for spearheading the campaign to restore the facility back in 1975, which led to the foundation of the Newport Opera House Association. He directed the inaugural production of THE MUSIC MAN that officially opened the renovated facility to the community in June of 1976. Since that time the Opera House has been the center of cultural and social activities for the town of Newport and the citizens of the Greater Lake Sunapee area. In September of 2008 the stage of the Opera House was officially dedicated as “The Charles H. Massey Community Stage.”
Massey first came to New Hampshire in 1966 while still a college student in North Carolina to become an apprentice at the New London Barn Playhouse. He liked the summer experience so much that he returned the following summer after graduation from college and stayed on in the fall to become a teacher at the Newport High School. He spent the next ten years teaching English and directing plays and musicals at the high school. It was during this time that he started the Newport Opera House Association and started directing plays on the Opera House stage.
In 1977 he moved to New York City where he became a talent agent and later a casting director for Ogilvy and Mather Advertising, Worldwide. He later became a personal manager with Curtis Brown Management. He always took time in the summer to return to the Barn Playhouse to direct one show each season. He even spent two full summers at the Barn before heading to California and the next chapter of his show business career.
In 1990 he moved to Los Angeles where he became a voice over agent at Sutton, Barth and Vennari where he remained for the next ten years. Charles became homesick for the East Coast and returned to New Hampshire to become the Associate Producer of the New London Barn Playhouse along side his friend Norman Leger. It was during this time that Bill Wightman convinced him to return to the Newport Opera House to direct a production of OLIVER! Suddenly the Community Theatre bug bit Charles again and he was off and running.
Marilyn Brannigan convinced Massey to return to the classroom at Newport High School in the fall of 2003. He also found time to direct an opera house production of ANNIE GET YOUR GUN. The following year he divided his time between the high school and the Opera House. Betty Maiola then approached Massey about becoming the full time Executive Director of the Newport Opera House Association. He had now come full circle and had returned to the community that embraced him so warmly as a young teacher and director. Since 2005 he has produced plays and musicals on the stage that now bears his name.
Charles H. Massey remains committed to the N.O.H.A. and its mission to provide quality entertainment for all of the citizens in the Greater Lake Sunapee region. He is currently busy making plans for the 2008-2009 season which will feature a production of NIGHT MUST FALL, THE DINING ROOM and GUYS AND DOLLS as well as dances, concerts and variety acts. In his own words, “I am a Southner by birth and a New Englander by choice.”