Paul Lenzi & Geraldine Ann Snyder will be honored with the Kathi E.B. Ellis Lifetime Achievement Award at the 2024 Arts-Louisville Theatre Awards and they were in the WXOX studios to talk about their work. Tune into Artists Talk with LVA every Thursday at 10 am on 97.1 WXOX-FM or stream on Artxfm.com
Paul Lenzi and Geraldine Ann Snyder returned to Louisville where they were hired by the Louisville Children’s Theater (now Stage One) to develop new musical programming for pre-schoolers while Paul ultimately became executive director. In 1976, the couple broke away to form the Blue Apple Players, continuing for a time a weekly children’s program on WAVE-TV. Blue Apple, for the first decade, operated on a “for profit” business model, performing locally and regionally for children sometimes in large halls or occasionally developing a didactic performance for a corporation. After becoming a non-profit, the theater company focused exclusively on creating musicals on cutting-edge social topics for Kentucky school groups. Blue Apple merged in 2015 with the Walden Theatre to form the Commonwealth Theatre Center.