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During the pandemic, Syracuse Stage was unable to run its typical productions. Rather than performing for seats filled with students, faculty and the Syracuse community, they performed for an audience of empty chairs.

Social distancing guidelines and other COVID-19 precautions caused their shows to be produced virtually. While the pre-filmed plays were not an ideal way to show off its talented cast and crew, there was one silver lining in the process.

Jill Anderson, managing director of Syracuse Stage, said the online shows allowed the company to reach a wider audience. Julie Lutz was one of those people who saw Syracuse Stage’s magic on a screen.

“Julie may have never seen our work, but she was able to watch an entire season of stage productions and get to know that the priorities, values and artistic excellence of our organization (through video) is something pretty breathtaking,” Anderson said.

After receiving a Ph.D. from the University of Illinois in 1972, Lutz became one of the only female astronomers in the country. She taught at Washington State University from 1971 to 1999, serving first as the director of the planetarium and later as the Boeing Distinguished Professor of Mathematics and Science Education and director of the astronomy program. Lutz joined the astronomy department at the University of Washington in 2000 as a NASA educator and an Emeritus Research Professor.

In 2004, the United Negro College Fund gave Lutz and her husband George Wallerstein the President’s Award for their fundraising efforts for the organization. Lutz passed away on May 3, 2022.

In August, Wallerstein’s estate donated $1 million to Syracuse Stage in honor of his late wife Lutz. The donation establishes the Julie Lutz New Play Development Fund, which will help develop new productions for the company.

Throughout her life, Lutz and Wallerstein were highly involved in the fight for social justice and racial equality, her daughter Clea Hupp said. The donation is meant to promote these ideas of reform. Hupp said that the majority of the gift will go into an endowment that can be designated for the specific purpose of supporting new works.

Anderson said that the donation helps Syracuse Stage take “artistic risks,” which has been difficult to do since the pandemic. She noted that this is the first season that Syracuse Stage will not feature a world premiere of a work.

Instead, the theater will be taking the season to strategically plan and develop the next season, using Lutz’s donation to help with new play development. This will include commissioning new writers and relaunching the Cold Read Festival of New Plays.

“For us to be able to continue to offer developmental opportunities for writers and resources for writers, to me feels very much in line with our mission and sort of our service to the field as well as to the community,” Anderson said.

Kyle Bass, the resident playwright at Syracuse Stage, founded the Cold Read Festival in 2016. He’s very proud of the way that the company can highlight new writers at the event and have at least one world premiere for the last few seasons. Bass’s play “Tender Rain” was the first play produced under the Julie Lutz New Play Development Fund.

Bass said that the Lutz donation is very exciting for the theater community and especially for him as a playwright. Some theaters are averse to new works, but Syracuse Stage embraces the change to give new writers a shot, Bass said.

“We have nurtured the development of new work, we have nurtured the programming of new work through world premieres and that’s what we continue to do,” Bass said. “We are a nonprofit organization, we’re not driven by commercial possibilities.”

Anderson said the Lutz donation is a massive step in a larger fundraising effort by Syracuse Stage for its 50th anniversary. Throughout the year, the company is running a number of events to honor the history of Syracuse Stage. This includes commemorative and artistic activities, fundraising pushes and reconnecting with people who have been vital parts of the organization.

Anderson said the different events can help Syracuse Stage connect with many generations of theater lovers, including those who have been going to the stage since 1973 and those who have only seen one or two shows.

“Maybe 50 years from now we find folks like we find now at our table who say I remember my first time, it was literally the first season, the first play and meeting those people now is such an inspiration,” Anderson said.

Anderson hopes that the Lutz donation “throws down the gauntlet for others” to add to the fundraising effort of Syracuse Stage. She said donating is the perfect way to support the organization and contribute to its lasting legacy.

Lutz was involved in philanthropy and always believed in contributing to causes that she cared about, Hupp said. Although she never attended a show at Syracuse Stage, Lutz understood the power of local theater and wanted to help the organization through a difficult time.

“I do think it’s infectious when you see the impact that philanthropy can make, and in gifts like this that are out of the clear blue sky,” Hupp said. “I think she would want it to be inspirational to other people.”

Published on September 26, 2023 at 9:13 pm