Former Civic Theatre director dead at 86

Betty Tomlinson, the woman who guided the Spokane Civic Theatre from rough infancy to mature professional quality, died Saturday. She was 86.

From 1961 to 1991, Tomlinson served as the theater’s first paid staff person and executive director. In that period, the theater evolved from ambitious nonprofit group into one of the country’s best-recognized community theaters.

It remains the only U.S. community theater that’s twice won the top prize in national competition judged by the American Association of Community Theaters.

Janice Abramson, a longtime Civic volunteer and friend of Tomlinson, said her legacy endures. On Sunday, the Civic’s latest contest entry, the musical “Assassins,” won the Washington state tier of the AACT national competition, she said.

The man who replaced her, Jack Phillips, said without her guiding hand the Civic might never have reached the stature it has.

Among her accomplishments were constructing the theater building the Civic now uses, launching the downstairs Firth Chew theater to add smaller, more challenging works to the schedule, and helping establish the theater’s first endowment, Phillips said.

Tomlinson graduated from North Central High School and later took acting classes in New York City.

She and her husband, the late Deane Tomlinson, moved back to Spokane and were founding members of the Spokane Little Theatre, the Civic’s predecessor.

It wasn’t until 1967 that the theater had a building of its own. In its first 13 years it used movie theaters in downtown Spokane to stage shows.

Phillips said Tomlinson had an uncanny ability to recruit and involve numerous theater-lovers in those early Civic productions.

“She made sure there were a large number of people who became equally responsible for the end result,” said Phillips. Her formula deepened the investment and enthusiasm for the theater’s efforts and made it what it is today, said Phillips, who left Spokane in 2004 to become artistic director of the Western Springs (Illinois) Theater.

Phillips said filling Tomlinson’s shoes, when she retired in 1991, was made easier because she bowed out entirely, leaving him in full control. She told him, “Here’s your office and call me if you need anything,” said Phillips. He did call, often, and never failed to get wholehearted help from her, he said.

Last fall, Tomlinson was among several Civic alumni who were honored at opening night of the theater’s 60th season.

A memorial service for Tomlinson will be held Wednesday at the Civic Theatre, said her son, Lewis Tomlinson.