Oct 21, 2026 · 45 min · 11 segments
A historic stage. A new director. A new chapter for the Woodstock Opera House! In Episode 2 of Next Stop: Woodstock, Heather Arnold and Jason Ryan Lovett sit down with Nathan Burkart, the new…
Heather ArnoldHostexactly did you choose the opera house? Why leave Janesville and come to our quaint little historic
It was something that a recruiter had reached out to me, and I looked at it on paper.
And at first I was like, you know, I can't leave J-PAC because I've been there forever and I love what we're doing here.
It was like a Saturday morning at like 530 in the morning because I wake up early because I'm like that.
And I just sat in the square and I looked up and I saw everything that you have here.
I don't ever sign up for something unless I think I'm going to be able to do it long term or I'm inspired by it.
So when I came and saw that, I looked at it as just a very natural progression point of what I wanted to do.
And the ability to leave my hometown and start taking some of these things I learned and some of the things that my mentors had taught me and be able to do it on my own was appealing to me.
And so when I came and I met all you guys, I felt like I was kind of at home.
I tell a lot of people when I met the team over there, I knew right away that this could be somewhere that I could work because I saw creative people who cared a lot about the arts, which is kind of like what you want, right? And then you kind of look around and you start seeing all the other great things that this community has going for it.
It's a community that believes in the arts to the point where we're an extension of the city.
And that tells you something, right? It tells you what the community thinks about its cultural impact and its economic impact.
I mean, one of the things I like to say is people who come to the opera house and buy tickets, they do other things.
exactly did you choose the opera house? Why leave Janesville and come to our quaint little historic
It was something that a recruiter had reached out to me, and I looked at it on paper.
And at first I was like, you know, I can't leave J-PAC because I've been there forever and I love what we're doing here.
It was like a Saturday morning at like 530 in the morning because I wake up early because I'm like that.
And I just sat in the square and I looked up and I saw everything that you have here.
I don't ever sign up for something unless I think I'm going to be able to do it long term or I'm inspired by it.
So when I came and saw that, I looked at it as just a very natural progression point of what I wanted to do.
And the ability to leave my hometown and start taking some of these things I learned and some of the things that my mentors had taught me and be able to do it on my own was appealing to me.
And so when I came and I met all you guys, I felt like I was kind of at home.
I tell a lot of people when I met the team over there, I knew right away that this could be somewhere that I could work because I saw creative people who cared a lot about the arts, which is kind of like what you want, right? And then you kind of look around and you start seeing all the other great things that this community has going for it.
It's a community that believes in the arts to the point where we're an extension of the city.
And that tells you something, right? It tells you what the community thinks about its cultural impact and its economic impact.
I mean, one of the things I like to say is people who come to the opera house and buy tickets, they do other things.
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