Empty Space managing director Melissa Hines is leaving the Seattle theatre after 23 years of working with the company. Her tenure ends at the end of November.

In the Seattle Times, Hines said her reasons for leaving were exhaustion and need for a change. It was not because of a conflict with newly appointed artistic director Alison Narver.

One of Hines' last efforts on behalf of the Empty Space was coordinating the construction and rehabilitation of the theatre's building in Fremont, whose brick facade had deteriorated. She also arranged to move the first two shows of the season. The Laramie Project will now play Nov. at Seattle Center's Eve Alvord Theatre, while the planned Valley of the Dolls adaptation will go on at Broadway Performance Hall.

Hines joined the Empty Space in 1978 and was named managing director in 1986. She translated The Miser for the Seattle Children's Theatre and served on the Steering Committee for the Communities of Color Fund Raising Training Project. In 1998, she was named a Northwest "Woman of Achievement" by the Association of Women in Communications.

— By Christine Ehren