MACT

2025 Fliehr Award Recipient

Barnum

Long before Joel Soukkala became the General Manager at County Seat Theater Company (CST), he was involved in the everyday workings of the company.

Joel has graced our stages.  Cheryl Kramer-Milder, founder and retired Artistic Direct of CST, said of Joel, “Joel is so talented, so reliable and so dedicated to theater and the arts.  There was never a time that I can remember that he did not give every ounce of energy he had to making our productions better.”  He has worked feverishly and with love with actors and set crew volunteers.  He has wracked his brain for many hours securing sponsors, advertisers and patrons so that CST could exist, and he has been in the trenches for County Seat Theater for nearly 40 years.

His personality is infectious.  He represents CST so well in the community as a well-known face of CST.

Joel was GM on a part-time basis for a stipend in additional to his “regular” job until 2012, when CST was able to create a plan to hire him fulltime. The benefits to him being at the theater at this increased level were immediate and immense. Joel has a natural talent for fostering good relationships with patrons and theater company members alike. He works very hard to create sets for shows early in their production cycle. Directors whose previous experience has been at other theaters are surprised how quickly they get to work with their cast in a working live set, which greatly contributes to the final product.

Joel is talented artistically, having acted in and directed many shows himself. But beyond that, he will always make himself available to help other directors or to coordinate all the details for the many musical and other acts that grace our stage beyond the plays performed by the theater company. Joel will go above and beyond to create exceptional experiences for our visitors. County Seat Theater has successfully hosted a number of festivals and other community events, including several MACT festivals, and Joel’s time and energy is a big part of the reason for that success.

CST receives excellent support from the business community. CST’s reputation for high quality theater is an obvious selling point to those businesses. But Joel’s personal relationship with many of those business leaders plays a huge role in obtaining and maintaining that support.