New stage begins, after a fashion

Terence McFarland may be the best-dressed executive director ever for LA Stage Alliance (formerly Theatre LA). He recently took the top full-time job at L.A.’s largest arts service organization after serving as interim director since September.

McFarland spent 12 years in such jobs as fashion director at Details magazine, fashion editor at Interview, public relations coordinator for Calvin Klein and a consultant for Geoffrey Beene.

But all that fashion didn’t “feed my soul,” he says, as much as a few experiences doing props and designing in summer stock in New Hampshire and taking a film course at NYU.

So in 1999, McFarland started attending CalArts, where he received a bachelor’s and then a master’s of fine arts in film/video and theater. Now 35, he says he “was the elder member of many of my classes.”

McFarland’s new job, he hopes, will call on skills he developed in both his fashion years and his arts years. The organization is recovering from a period of turmoil last fall, but McFarland reports that revenue is up and the group’s recent effort to include other performing arts besides theater is still a priority.

-- Don Shirley