Lawton Community Theatre names new director

The new managing director of Lawton Community Theatre has deep roots in the performing arts.

Lawton native Kristoffer Pendergraft, who was named managing director of the Lawton Community Theatre in January, has been in the performing arts since early childhood.

“One summer, a daycare was offering a “Lion King” musical for kids and I decided I would audition,” Pendergraft said. “And sure enough, I was cast as young Simba and ever since then, I never looked back.”

Pendergraft said he first began performing with LCT when he was 9 years old.

“My first production was ‘Oliver! The Musical’,” Pendergraft said. “It was directed by Scott Richard Klein, who was the head of the Theater Department at Cameron University for many years.”

Ever since then, Pendergraft has been associated with Lawton Community Theatre.

“I had wonderful educators in high school that encouraged me along the way,” Pendergraft said. “I wound up going to school at Oklahoma City University for Music Theater. I graduated in 2016 with my Bachelor’s of Music, focusing in Music Theater.”

Beginning his journey

After graduating, Pendergraft started his theatrical journey.

“I worked with Lyric Theatre of Oklahoma,” Pendergraft said. “I was in their production of ‘Rocky Horror Show’. About a couple of weeks later, I packed all of my things and moved to New York City where I really focused on trying to audition for Broadway shows. I auditioned for somewhere around 200 different productions.”

Even though the idea of being a performer sounds amazing to some people, Pendergraft said it’s hard.

“The general population likes to glorify the idea of being a performer, but it’s really hard,” Pendergraft said. “They don’t pay very much. You go to New York and there’s thousands of people just as talented as you. You’re like, ‘Man, I’m not getting the job.’ It was a lot of hard work. While I enjoyed it at a certain point, I realized that I’d rather be able to pay my bills and not stress about auditions at 5 a.m. every day and be there until 9 p.m. I was a personal trainer while I worked in New York. I taught reading, I did all kinds of things.”

But when the COVID-19 pandemic hit, his plans took a turn.

“Just like every other story, COVID changed everything,” Pendergraft said. “I was working in a gym and I actually had clients the day they shut us down. They said, ‘All right, everything has to be done by 3 p.m. Businesses are shutting down and we’re not sure when we’re opening back up.’ New York’s really expensive and without a job I was like, ‘I don’t know if I can continue to pay rent.’ My parents still live here in town so I called them and said, ‘Hey mom and dad, can I come back to Lawton for a while until this COVID thing settles down?’ And they helped me out and brought me back here.”

Since then, Pendergraft has been doing many different things for many different entities including directing shows for LCT, performing in shows at Cameron, conducting musicals in Wichita Falls, etc.

Getting the call

“There wasn’t really a job for me until the former managing director of LCT decided it was time for him to move onward,” Pendergraft said. “About November of 2023, I got a call saying, ‘We’ve got an opening at LCT. Do you want it? You’ll be the big boss.’ I said, ‘Is there a trick? Of course I want it!’ And I took over the position in January of 2024.”

Pendergraft said he is excited for what the new role will bring.

“I’m not playing catch up anymore, coming in partway through a season,” Pendergraft said. “I’m hitting the ground running with this new season and I’m really excited for what we’re going to do. I’ve got a really great team of support around me, which makes stepping into this and all the things I’m needing to learn a lot easier and a lot less stressful.”

So far, Pendergraft said the new role is a “learning curve.

“My experience is on the performance side,” Pendergraft said. “I’ve got a performance degree, I’ve always been a performer on the stage. And I have directed also, so I know the creative side. But being the managing director is not as focused on the art. It’s more focused on keeping a business running, balancing budgets, identifying grant funding and being a steward of expenses.

“I think I’m in a unique position to really be a steward of Lawton Community Theatre,” Pendergraft said. “I grew up there, it’s emotionally and personally important to me. I have so much support that really wants to see me and the organization succeed. And that’s been really, really exciting.”