At Amphibian Stage, a beacon of trailblazing theater and arts advocacy in Fort Worth, a historic change in leadership is underway. The company’s founding artistic director, Kathleen Culebro, will step down at the end of this year — passing the baton to Jay Duffer, who joined the nonprofit as managing director in 2019 and was later named co-artistic director.

In her 25 seasons with Amphibian, Culebro has helmed the production of 83 plays, 13 world premieres and over 40 stand-up comic residencies, along with the development of nearly 70 new shows. She has consistently found ways to pave uncharted paths, redefining what theater can accomplish and multiplying its impact. Having achieved what she set out to do, and then some, she is eager to explore her next phase of life.

“I will always be a part of this company that means so much to me, but soon it will be as an enthusiastic donor and patron watching with pride as it continues to grow and evolve with fresh talent and leadership,” Culebro said.

Amphibian Stage’s story begins in 2000 at Texas Christian University, where Culebro was teaching classes and pursuing a second bachelor’s degree in theater. After producing a successful play with a few of her classmates, she decided to form an official company. The Amphibians performed at TCU — and occasionally in New York — until 2008, when Culebro relocated the group to the Fort Worth Community Arts Center. In the following years, she felt the venue was merely a temporary solution and set her sights on finding a permanent location for Amphibian.

In 2012, with the help of her board, Culebro found the company’s current home on South Main Street — a former nightclub, where Nirvana played in the ’90s. Amphibian soon became one of very few operating businesses on South Main and is often credited as a key player in helping the now flourishing neighborhood turn a corner.

As Amphibian grew and acquired more resources over the years, Culebro seized every opportunity to harness the power of art for advocacy and service. She implemented after-school programs that ignited a lifelong passion for the arts in many children, inspiring them to become first-generation college graduates and pursue careers in creative fields. She has given countless playwrights their first audience and a platform to develop groundbreaking work. She even helped establish Amphibian’s ongoing De-Cruit program — a free, weekly workshop that employs trauma-informed theater techniques and Shakespeare to help veterans in the community and in prison heal from trauma.

Perhaps one of Culebro’s biggest achievements is the establishment of SparkFest. What initially began as a platform to connect playwrights with artistic directors evolved into a weekslong extravaganza featuring live theater, dance, comedy and music. In an attempt to celebrate and foster diversity within the DFW arts community, the last few SparkFests have exclusively featured creatives from specific cultural communities.

While last year’s festival amplified Middle Eastern, North African and South Asian artists, this year’s uplifted the Asian American and Pacific Islander community.

“I think people really deeply appreciate it,” Duffer said. “Many of the artists from these communities tell us this doesn’t exist, and they’ve never had a space like this.”

Though he has only been with Amphibian full-time for five years, Duffer’s relationship with the company began nearly 19 years ago. He booked his first of many acting gigs with Amphibian in 2006, and in 2014, Culebro asked him to direct his first play with the company. Though she was charmed by his talent, humor and humility from the moment they met, Culebro said Duffer’s directorial debut “sealed her love affair.”

Despite multiple costume fiascos throughout the rehearsal process, Duffer stayed cooler, calmer and more collected than any director she’d ever encountered.

“That’s what made me realize, this is the perfect human being that I always want to work with,” Culebro said. The feeling was mutual for Duffer — but after the show closed, he had to return to Indiana, where he was a theater professor at Huntington University.

A few years later, Duffer found himself looking for new opportunities — and he reached out to Culebro.

“True to fashion, she texted me within 60 seconds and said, I have a job for you,” Duffer laughed. As it turned out, Amphibian’s managing director had just stepped down — and by January 2019, Duffer had relocated to Texas to assume the position.

Throughout his time with Amphibian, Duffer has directed several of the top 10 highest-grossing productions in the company’s history. With an unprecedented rate of live theaters closing their doors after the pandemic, he has been instrumental in ensuring Amphibian continues to shatter box office and attendance records.

In 2021, Culebro and Duffer mutually decided to change his title to co-artistic director to reflect his integral role in not only running the business, but also lending his expertise as an actor, playwright and director.

As Duffer became more adept in his role, Culebro began to feel the organization no longer needed her. She had been questioning her place in the company as early as 2020, when she realized how much she enjoyed having to think outside the box during the pandemic.

“We had to figure out new ways to make art and put money in the pockets of actors and directors,” Culebro said. “When we went back, I realized I wasn’t ready. I wanted to keep exploring new ways of making things.”

 The fact that Amphibian is thriving has given Culebro peace of mind in her decision to step away.

“We’re at the top of where we’ve ever been, we’ve reached the million dollar per year threshold, and we’ve got really great national recognition,” she said. “If I’m going to leave, this is the time to do it.”

Culebro’s unwavering faith in Duffer to steer the organization in the right direction sealed the deal.

“It’s very important to me that this company lives on, and an important part of my decision is knowing Jay is right here,” she said.

Duffer is stepping into Culebro’s shoes with a little apprehension and a lot of excitement. “I feel the burden of history and taking the organization forward, but I’m also excited and quite honored to be in this position,” he said. Duffer has no intention of changing the ethos, vision and mission Culebro has established — only carrying the torch into the future.

“I’m excited to see how he takes the brand and expands it,” Culebro said.

As for Culebro’s next steps? “It depends on the day of the week,” she laughed. She intends to use her impending freedom to explore whatever sparks her interest next. Though she will likely remain in the arts, she is also interested in social justice and other forms of philanthropy. Her only nonnegotiable is to keep creating.

No matter what Culebro gets her hands on next, she has left an indelible legacy on the arts community both locally and nationwide.

“She has proven, being a multicultural female in a homogenized, male-dominated industry, that she can out-think, out-maneuver, out-strategize and out-perform almost every artistic director I know,” Duffer said.

Culebro has established an arts behemoth where the end goal is more than just the performance. It’s about connecting communities, creating opportunities, catapulting careers and changing lives.

“We can think of our job as selling tickets, or we can think of our job as making theater better, making artists better and making ourselves better,” Duffer said. And that’s exactly what Culebro has accomplished.