On the Record With: Woodstock Opera House building manager Mark Greenleaf

WOODSTOCK – Woodstock Opera House building manager Mark Greenleaf has been with the historic venue for 30 years now, and he said he never expected to stay there that long.

“It’s really neat to just show up looking for a temporary job, and really end up finding a home,” Greenleaf said.

The Opera House was built in 1889 to hold the city's library, council room, justice court, fire department and second floor auditorium, according to its website.

In 1972, the building was designated as a landmark by the city, and money was raised to restore the building. It reopened in 1977 as the Woodstock Opera House Community Center.

The city-owned building had its last major renovation in 2003, when a new annex was completed and added to the Opera House, which provided disability access to the stage, a freight elevator and the Stage Left Cafe.

Greenleaf said he isn’t planning on retiring yet. The 62-year-old said he still has a few more projects he’d like to see through, with the end goal of leaving the building in good shape for the next person who takes over.

“I think more and more now about legacy and trying to wrap it up in good fashion,” Greenleaf said.

He was born in Waukegan and studied acting, directing and stage managing at Illinois State University. He said he worked many jobs as a stagehand before joining the Opera House.

Northwest Herald reporter Hannah Prokop toured the Opera House with Greenleaf and spoke about his role with the city and the historic building.

Prokop: How long have you been working here, and why did you start working at the Opera House?

Greenleaf: I have been here for 30 years. It was not part of my plan. ... Someone called, someone out of the blue, someone that was an acquaintance, not a close personal friend. But he let me know that he had heard about a technical position at the Woodstock Opera House, and he thought that I would be suited for that. And I was very grateful.

I to this day don’t know why he called me. I haven’t heard from him since … or been able to figure out where he went, but he directed me here, and I got the job as technical assistant by virtue of my technical experience – certainly not acting or directing experience. So it all fell in place for me, or maybe even in spite of me, and, you know, I’m not even sure it was really my acquaintance on the phone. I think it might have been just an angel and part of a plan. And I’ve been here 30 years, and I’ve never looked back.

Prokop: What does the job of building manager entail? What are some of the most important aspects of your job?

Greenleaf: The most important thing to remember or to keep in mind when you think about this job is it is a matter of stewardship. The building is 125 years old. My job while I’m here is to take the very best care of it that I can – to make sure that things don’t go bad, and when they do, to correct them and make them right, and pass it on, in at least as good a condition as I found it.

You don’t try to put your own stamp on things. Preservation and restoration, and maintenance of and repair – all in this industry, they are not synonyms. They all have very specific meanings, and you really have to keep the propriety of each move in mind.

And so I think it’s a big responsibility. I take it as a big responsibility because it is. Programs that we’ve developed here are wonderful – they’re absolutely wonderful. I would hold them up to anybody’s programs. ... And so it’s part of the wonder that is Woodstock, and it belongs to all of us, and we take the responsibility for its care very seriously.

Prokop: What’s really changed over the last 30 years?

Greenleaf: We’re growing the program in a very good way, and then the economy took a significant downturn, and so I mean that had an effect on programming. Certainly, it had an effect on attendance. It had an effect on our budgeting capabilities. But we have strived mightily to keep our standards up and do more with less. I think we have been successful in doing that.

We have, as I indicated, made some great strides in terms of our technical capabilities in the time that I’ve been here. ... Going step by step to better and better and better lighting control and dimmers to now LED. We have improved our sound capabilities, we’ve improved our general production capabilities in terms of space by adding the addition onto the west side of the building.

Prokop: Anything you’re involved in that you think people don’t know about?

Greenleaf: We are heavily involved in taking care of other facilities. We are largely responsible for the maintenance of the spring house and the bandstand down in the Park in the Square.

The Opera House puts together the city Christmas parade every year – not everybody knows that.

We have a very strong and wonderful relationship, as I said, with our local military. Certainly our local National Guard unit and the soldiers and their families that we’ve kind of grown over the years.

Prokop: Do you have a favorite memory or story that stands out?

Greenleaf: There are a lot of projects that have given me great satisfaction. Restoring the 1873 city fire bell to the tower here in the building so we can ring that and people can see it. ... We work on the monument in the park, the Civil War monument in the park, we consulted with folks who take care of all those things at Gettysburg and elsewhere.

Prokop: What would you say is the most challenging part of your job?

Greenleaf: I think the challenging part would be to keep up with all the work that needs doing, but it’s wonderful and meaningful work. ... You do what it takes, and there are no small jobs, and all of those things are requisite to what we do. It’s very, very wonderful to be able to immerse yourself and learn different aspects of different trades because many different things are called into play when we have to restore this or preserve that or repair something else.

The Greenleaf lowdown

Who is he? Mark Greenleaf, Woodstock Opera House building manager

Family? Wife, June; Children, April, David, Adam, Andy, Kristin; Grandchildren, Steven, Marley, Talli, Nora and London

Favorite book? The Bible

Favorite movie? “The Princess Bride”