12 People You Need to Know in 2015: Beth Domann

Few people can say they’ve taken a swing at Jennifer Lawrence or had the favor returned. Beth Domann claims both.

The executive director of Springfield Little Theatre is in several pivotal scenes in “Winter’s Bone,” the 2010 movie shot in the Ozarks that catapulted Lawrence to fame. One of those scenes involves two actors – Domann is one – dragging Lawrence into a barn for a beating.

“It was not a short stint when we were dragging her,” says Domann, who gets kicked by Lawrence during the scuffle.

Domann’s casting in a critically acclaimed indie film is a stroke of serendipity that appears to follow her. She read for “Winter’s Bone” because she’d met the director when providing space for a read-through. She had the flu during the audition and thinks it helped her win the role. Now, there’s the sitcom she’s helping Yakov Smirnoff develop, a connection made through mutual acquaintances.

For the past 18 years, Domann has worked behind the scenes at SLT while continuing to direct and perform, an unexpected career trajectory for someone who once planned on leaving the stage.

After graduating from Stephens College, Domann moved to Dallas, where theater was surging. She was a starving artist, but she got her first taste of luck when she got in with one of Dallas’ top directors, Kyle McClaran.

Seven great years followed, but Domann returned to Springfield in 1990 after her mother’s cancer diagnosis. Domann was on her way to Chicago to audition for Second City but stayed here – and decided to leave performing.

However, a friend insisted Domann compete for SLT’s Funniest Person in Springfield, and she won. She taught classes and directed while also doing other jobs, including bartending, flipping houses and stints as a colonic therapist and private investigator, during which she learned it’s a bad idea to make a person laugh when they are undergoing a colonic and being an informant is risky business.

Domann wasn’t looking for a change. Then SLT offered her the position of education director in 1996.

By 2002, the executive director’s office was empty, and SLT was in bad shape. Domann became the artistic director while Chris Volkmer focused on the business side.

“The theater didn’t have any money. It was pretty dire straits around here,” Domann says. “We realized we had to get butts in the seats. We had lost the trust of the public. You’ve got to do shows people are interested in seeing. That’s what we concentrated on.”

After Volkmer left SLT, Domann stepped in. Challenges remain, such as upkeep on an old theater, but Domann believes SLT is a top regional theater.

“I am really proud of everyone here. We’ve done it as a team,” she says. “This area is just a crazy vortex of talent.”