State Theater moving (ahead with) West

With the departure of former Executive Director Dana Beth Lyddan, the board of directors for the Historic State Theater had the opportunity to go in a new direction. They chose West.
Elizabethtown native Emily West is the new executive director for the State Theater. West began her new position Monday. Lyddan married and moved to Indiana.
West previously worked as a sales executive at WAKY and WLVK radio stations. West said her experience there allowed her to meet with many business owners and attend public functions such as Chamber of Commerce luncheons. Because of this, she’s used to being the face of an organization.
“I was very much in the public eye,” she said.
West always has admired the State Theater and has longed to one day be part of it, saying “This is just a job I have wanted since I was a child.”
Sam J. Young, a member of the Historic State Theater Board of Directors, said West set herself apart by having experience with event planning, marketing and management, though there were other candidates with experience in these areas.
“But she was the perfect mix of the two,” Young said.
West said she thinks of the theater as the “pinnacle” attraction in Elizabethtown, and she wants to bring more awareness to it.
One of her goals is to attract people of all ages to the theater by showing movies from a variety of time periods. She also would like to build activities around movies to make showings more like events.
West said some residents have a lot of memories of the theater in its first life from 1942 to 1982, and she would like to begin creating new memories for new generations.
Kelly Cantrall can be reached at (270) 505-1747 or at kcantrall@thenewsenterprises.com.

Jill Pickett

Emily West was selected to fill the position of executive director for The State Theater.

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