(CAPE MAY, NJ) -- East Lynne Theater Co. has recently announced Mark David Boberick as its new executive director, effective immediately. This is a brand-new position within the theater company, which is celebrating its 45th anniversary season this year.
Boberick, a Wildwood Crest resident, joined East Lynne’s board of trustees in 2023. Most recently, he shared board president duties with Susan Tischler, who will remain in that role.
A multi-faceted businessman, Boberick is the founder and CEO of Arboretum Creative (2017), a design firm, and the co-creator and chief creative officer of Petals Floral Design and Gifts (2013), both in Wildwood. Trained at the Art Institute of Philadelphia as an interior architect, Boberick is a creative storyteller who works in multiple disciplines, including interior, scenic, theatrical, graphic, retail, floral, and event design, with a wide knowledge of global aesthetics and keen attention to style and detail. He has also served on the board of the Cooper Cape Regional Hospital Foundation, which is dedicated to raising philanthropic support and community involvement in support of the hospital, since 2018.
Boberick has been designing theatrical experiences for over two decades, providing scenic designs for more than 75 productions. His most recent stage designs have included East Lynne’s productions “Love Letters,” “Dial M for Murder” and “A Case for the Existence of God.”
This summer, East Lynne will perform their mainstage productions at Cape May Presbyterian Church, which has been its home for the past 45 years. However, by late spring, East Lynne will mark the grand opening of the Clemans Theater for the Arts at Allen AME Church — its future permanent theatrical home — with an inaugural photography exhibit, “Legacy Through the Lens,” which will explore the Black history of the surrounding community.
“As we prepare to move into our new home, we are ecstatic that Mark David has accepted the role of executive director,” said Tischler. “His vast experience in both the art and design worlds, as well as his knowledge of nonprofit management, make him the ideal candidate to lead our East Lynne Theater Company into the future.”
Boberick plans to apply his nonprofit experience at East Lynne to focus on its current capital campaign — an ongoing pursuit to raise funds for renovations to the Clemans Theater — audience growth and developing a robust calendar that will not end at Labor Day.
“My goal is to spearhead exciting and new partnerships, develop community engagement and establish year-round performances and visual arts programming unlike anything Cape May has seen before,” Boberick said. “Once we are settled into our new facility at the Clemans Theater for the Arts, literally anything will be possible — and I can’t wait to get started.”
A lifelong supporter of the arts, Boberick believes in the power of artistic expression to unite communities and break down barriers. As the company prepares to move into the Clemans Theater at the Allen AME Church of Cape May, Boberick is keenly aware of how vitally important this is.
“Moving into this historic building shifts and broadens our mission as a theatre company in ways that we are excited to explore,” Boberick said. “We are doing much more than putting on theatrical productions. We want to ensure this structure, our new home, is a gift to the community and the county.”
East Lynne Theater Co. is located at 500 Hughes St., Cape May. Beginning this summer, additional programming will be available at the Clemans Theater for the Arts, 717 Franklin St., Cape May.
Founded in 1980, East Lynne Theater Company (ELTC) was the first theater in the country with the unique mission of presenting and preserving America's theatrical heritage. The New York Times listed ELTC as one of the 75 top summer theaters in North America. In 2018, the New Jersey Senate and General Assembly passed a joint legislative resolution recognizing ELTC as “one of the state’s most important cultural treasures.”
