The State of Oregon Ballet Theatre

After the abrupt departure of artistic director Christopher Stowell last month, the fate of Oregon Ballet Theatre seemed up in the air. But the picture’s looking brighter already. Anne Mueller, who was the company’s star dancer until her retirement in 2011, has taken over as interim artistic director through the end of the 2013 season. Over the past year, she’s worked as OBT’s director of artistic operations, splitting her time between setting repertoire and working in a behind the scenes capacity on production, budgeting and communications, a position that’s likely to have helped prepare her for the pressing tasks ahead. Meanwhile, OBT has set up a search committee to find the company’s next artistic and executive directors; the team includes OBT dancers, trustees, community leaders and local dance directors such as BodyVox’s Jamey Hampton. For more, see OBT.org.