It is with great sadness that we announce the passing of George Elmer. George was a Gold Card Manager.
His family asked that we share the following with our members.
George Allison Elmer, 80,shuffled off this mortal coil on March 8, 2021, at his home in Ashe County, after a long illness.
Mr. Elmer was born on 12/22/1940 in Washington, D.C.to George W. Elmer & Anna (Anne) Knox Tharin Elmer. He attended schools in VA, and Woodward Prep (Wash., D.C.) , and then Frankfort American Jr. High & High Schools in Frankfurt, Germany. He served in the U.S. Navy (Sonarman) 1959-1963); attended Richmond (VA) Professional Institute [now Virginia Commonwealth University] from 1963 – 70, taking time off to work with the Pennsylvania Ballet Co. (stage manager), where he met Roseanne Caruso, and the Outdoor Drama, ‘The Legend of Daniel Boone,’ in Harrodsburg, KY. (1966-69.) He married Roseanne in 1969. A true man of the Theatre, George’s early endeavors in Entertainment included stage managing, production manager, sound designer, lighting designer, costume designer, actor and director. He worked with Actors Theatre of Louisville, Webster College Drama Dept./Theatre (St. Louis, MO suburb)],
In New York, he worked with Lily Turner (1970-1998);WPA Theatre (at 333 Bowerie), Merry Enterprises Theatre, No Smoking Playhouse, Media Sound/Ron St. Germain, the press agent offices of Seymore Krawitz and Frank Goodman, Dorothy Olim Associates (1992-’96), George Elmer Productions Ltd. (1996-’99), primarily General Managing Off- Broadway, Broadway, tours and sit-down productions in Boston, Chicago, San Francisco, Los Angeles, Omaha, the Spoletto Festival, Charleston, SC, Orlando, FL., Miami, FL and key West, FL. He also worked with the Cabarets: The Ballroom, Steve McGraw’s, Jan Wolman’s, the Algonquin Oak Room & Danny’s Skylight Room, among others in and outside of NYC. He also Managed for the Barter Theatre (Abingdon, VA,) The Playwrights Project (later, New River Dramatists) and the Villar-Hauser Theatre Development Fund.
He managed the Jack Lawrence & Audrie Woods Theatres, Theatre Four, the Bouwerie Lane Theatre; and the Martin Beck (now the Al Hershfeld) & Eugene O’Neill Theatres for Jujamcyn Theatres. It was his great honor to serve as the Secretary/Treasurer of the League of Off-Broadway Theatres and Producers.
His wife, Rosanne Caruso Elmer, pre-deceased him (1999.) He is survived by his and Rosanne’s sons, Jason Timothy Elmer and Luke Thompson Elmer; and his wife Sheila Marie Mathews Elmer and his sister, Francis Tharin (Cheetah) Elmer Currier. Several nieces and nephews also survive.