Compass Players bow out after death of founder
Compass Players, a startup community theater in the West Valley, has canceled its upcoming third season after the death of the company’s founder, Jeanna Michaels.
Michaels, a longtime character actor on TV series such as “Dallas” and “Santa Barbara,” died May 23 of lymphoma.
She and three other local actors launched Compass Players in April 2016 with Neil Simon’s “Chapter Two,” producing at the Peoria Center for the Performing Arts. It recently closed its second season with a world-premiere romantic comedy, “West Palm Prime.”
While operations have been suspended, company co-founder Dave Golden said no final decision has been made to close.
“We were trying to get our own theater in the West Valley here, and she was working on that before all this happened,” Golden said.
“Jeanna was the glue that held everything together, but there are a lot of people out there that are interested in working with us. So we haven’t made a final decision on what to do yet. We’re going to take some time and think about it.”
After a long TV career, Michaels returned to her live-theater roots in southern California, then moved to Arizona with her husband, Steve Katz. She directed for the Sun City Grand Drama & Comedy Club before deciding to start her own company.
In her bio on the Compass Players website, she wrote, “I love theater. While I was not doing it, I missed it. Over the years I worked with a lot of actors and directors ... some you would recognize ... some you would not. But the one thing we all have in common, is that once you know you are an actor ... you are always an actor. And you always want to tell a really good story.”
“Jeanna was the glue that held everything together, but there are a lot of people out there that are interested in working with us.” Dave Golden Compass Players co-founder