Jacksonville, Fl — A shakeup in leadership at the Florida Theatre.

President Numa Saisselin has resigned after 13 years in the role. A reason was not provided by the Theatre Board.

The board of directors named Kevin Stone, the vice president of programming, to serve as interim president, effective immediately.

The Florida Theatre’s statement says it will soon begin a formal search for the next permanent leader.

During a live broadcast on February 14, 2025, Saisselin told Jacksonville’s Morning News how the Florida Theatre is so storied, it even has its own event mythology.

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This is the letter Saisselin shared with the community:

Hello Friends and Neighbors,

People ask me all the time what my favorite Florida Theatre shows were. Two of the shows I reference regularly are Lynyrd Skynyrd in 2015 and Katt Williams in 2017. There have been many, many other great nights, but these two performances were filmed and recorded. Every time they’re on TV and the camera pans the audience, I see so many of you that I know personally, and it’s terrific to relive those moments. You’re all watching the stage, but I’m watching you enjoy the performance, and it’s the emotional payoff to the work we do here at the theatre to make that experience possible for you, and for the Lynyrd Skynyrd band and Katt Williams too.

I am thinking about this a lot lately, because a little more than thirteen years and over 2,100 performances after arriving in Jacksonville to take this job, I am leaving the Florida Theatre.

I was a Boy Scout, and the Scouts taught me to leave the camp site better than I found it. The Florida Theatre organization has grown more than four times its size since 2012. In addition, over $17 million of capital improvements have been completed, and $2.5 million of work is underway right now. A new stage left Green Room and dressing rooms will be completed this spring, making a better experience for the performers, and a marquee renovation is in the planning stages.

When we started the capital fundraising campaign in 2018, the goal was to prepare the building for its 100th anniversary in 2027. That is now right around the corner, and the building and the organization are in a good place. The Florida Theatre has anchored downtown for almost 100 years, and with downtown development on a roll, its best years are ahead.

Thank you for embracing what we have done with the Florida Theatre. Note that I said “we.” I am the idiot they hand the microphone to most nights, but the Florida Theatre is a team sport. No one person can lay claim to its success. I work with 30 full-time staff members, over 200 part-time staff members, over 200 volunteer ushers and 30 volunteer members of the Board of Directors. In addition, every year a couple dozen corporations and businesses and almost 2,000 individual and family members financially support the theatre. If I tried to name everyone, I would surely leave someone out. Suffice to say again that it’s a team effort, and we’re all working to preserve the historic Florida Theatre and connect artists and audiences in our community.

If you have enjoyed the Florida Theatre with me over the last 13 years, I hope you will continue to support it and its programs, so that 100 years from now, your grandchildren and great grandchildren will be able to enjoy it too.

Thank you for the honor of serving this institution.

Numa Saisselin

COMMUNITY SPOTLIGHT: Wendy Parrish, Jacksonville University Administrator and Ashley Lopez, Vice President of Lilli’s Light were live in studio to share their experience being in the Oval Office. They stood behind President Trump as he signed the 2025 SUPPORT Act into law.

Parrish was invited with other families affected by fentanyl. She lost her 18-year-old niece, Lilli Pease, to fentanyl poisoning. That tragic loss motivated her to launch Lilli’s Light with the mission to help educate parents and students about the growing danger of fake prescription pills.

JU Administrator Invited to White House for Fentanyl Bill Signing (Jacksonville University/White House)

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