Parson’s Nose Founders Step Back After 26 Years, Hand Live Stage to New Team

After 26 years leading Parson’s Nose Theater, co-founders Mary Chalon and Lance Davis announced they are stepping back from live theater operations and handing the company’s stage to a new leadership team.

Four company veterans — actor Barry Gordon, writer Hoyt Hilsman, actress Marisa Chandler, and director Gary Lamb — are planning Season 27 of live theater, which they will announce in the coming months, according to a statement from the co-founders. Chalon and Davis will remain with the nonprofit company, focusing on its Audio Drama Program.

The transition marks a new chapter for the Pasadena theater company, which has presented condensed classical comedies from a 50-seat converted mortuary chapel at 95 N. Marengo Ave. since 2017. Davis founded PNT with Chalon in 2000, after his acting students at Cal State expressed unfamiliarity with classical works.

“My acting students had very little knowledge of classic works,” Davis wrote in the announcement. “I asked why. ‘No one ever does them. Too long. Language too difficult.’”

Davis, who trained as an actor at the Tyrone Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis and performed in more than 100 professional productions in New York, approached Chalon — his wife and a fellow New York actor — about starting a company that would present classic comedies in short form. Founding supporters Terry Perl, Eileen Davis, and Mario and Therese Molina helped launch what became a 26-year run.

The company performed works by Moliere, Shakespeare, Goldoni, Dickens, Hans Christian Andersen, and Charles Perrault in schools, coffeehouses, and tents before settling into its permanent home — the Turner Stevens Mortuary Chapel, a Marston and Van Pelt-designed building near Pasadena City Hall. The 501(c)(3) nonprofit has presented more than 62 original adaptations to more than 80,000 audience members, according to the company’s website.

The incoming leadership team brings credentials spanning Hollywood, the legal profession, and Pasadena civic life. Gordon, a Tony-nominated actor who voiced Donatello in the original “Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles” animated series, served as the longest-tenured president of the Screen Actors Guild from 1988 to 1995 and has served as vice chair of PNT’s board. Hilsman, an author and former president of the Los Angeles Drama Critics Circle, sits on PNT’s board and serves on the Pasadena City College Board of Trustees. Chandler is a Pasadena native and longtime company member, and Lamb has directed PNT productions and performed with the company.

Chalon and Davis said they plan to focus on the Audio Drama Program, which grew out of PNT’s pivot to podcast-format productions during the COVID-19 pandemic. With the help of sound engineer David Bennett, they will remaster previously recorded works while producing new material, the announcement said.

“It will allow us to remaster, with the help of sound engineer David Bennett, the works we’ve already recorded, while freeing us up to travel and spend time with family,” Davis wrote.

Three shows remain in the current season. The annual “Irish Celebration” is scheduled for March 15 and is sold out, according to the announcement. Chalon’s final Women’s Project production — “The Rose Society” by playwright Rachel Carnes — runs March 22 and 23, with tickets available now. Davis said he is writing the season’s final show, “Café Incoherent: The Impressionists,” with tickets to be available soon. All shows are at 95 N. Marengo Ave. in Pasadena. Tickets and information are available at parsonsnose.com.

Gordon, Chandler, Hilsman, and Lamb are expected to announce Season 27 plans in the coming months.