ATLANTA: Dad’s Garage Theatre Company has announced that managing director Lara Smith will be stepping down in late 2021. The theatre’s board launched a search for a new managing director last week.

“We’ve been lucky to have Lara at the helm of Dad’s Garage since 2012, and we’re grateful for the lead time she’s given us so we can find the best person for the role,” said Derin Dickerson, the theatre’s board chair, in a statement. Smith notified the board of her decision to depart in October 2020.

Interim artistic director Tim Stoltenberg will remain in his role for the foreseeable future as the board prioritizes their search for a new managing director. Stoltenberg was named interim artistic director after Jon Carr accepted the role of executive producer at the Second City in Chicago.

“Lara is inspiring to work with, and I’m eager to spend much of 2021 with her and then help her successor step into the role,” Stoltenberg said in a statement.

In her nearly decade-long tenure at Dad’s Garage, Smith raised the organization’s budget by over $1 million. In 2015, Dad’s Garage received a Managing for Excellence grant from the Community Foundation for Greater Atlanta in recognition of Smith’s proven leadership capability. Smith also spearheaded 2014’s “Save the Theatre” campaign, coordinating what became the largest theatre Kickstarter campaign to secure a temporary production space when Dad’s Garage’s rented space was unavailable.

Smith is a graduate of the LEAD Atlanta class of 2014 and the Arts Leaders of Metro Atlanta program. She is a recipient of a scholarship from the Harvard Business School Club of Atlanta and was named to the list of “Atlanta’s 500 Most Powerful” people by Atlanta Magazine in 2020 and 2021.

Dad’s Garage Theatre Company transforms people, communities, and perspectives through laughter, entertaining more than 33,000 people each year in Atlanta.