Major player in local theater scene leaves Las Vegas

Lysander Abadia may be leaving Las Vegas. But not before leaving his mark on Las Vegas.

He’s moving to the Midwest to be closer to family, but in doing so he’s leaving another family: the Las Vegas theatrical community, where he’s been at home since arriving 17 years ago.

The MGM Grand’s “EFX,” then in its final years, brought him to Las Vegas. Abadia performed in the 1999 edition starring Broadway great Tommy Tune, then hung in there until rocker Rick Springfield’s version — titled “EFX Alive!” — died in 2001.

From there, Abadia “kept bouncing from gig to gig,” he recalls, from Mandalay Bay’s “Mamma Mia!” to the then-Las Vegas Hilton’s long-gone “Star Trek: The Experience,” where he trained cast members as Starfleet officers. (“An amazing job, to play ‘Star Trek’ all day,” Abadia says.)

Along with professional jobs, Abadia immersed himself in Las Vegas’ local theater scene. With Benjamin Loewy and Maxim Lardent, he founded Poor Richard’s Players in 2011. The troupe is still going strong; their production of Mel Brooks’ musical version of “Young Frankenstein” opens Thursday at Super Summer Theatre, where Abadia has been a choreographer. He also has performed with Nevada Conservatory Theatre and Las Vegas Little Theatre, where he’s on the board of directors. He has directed for Sin City Opera and collaborated with Cockroach Theatre Company.

“Everyone’s really involved in everyone else’s shows,” he says. That’s a change from Abadia’s first days in Las Vegas, when “a lot of competing companies” preferred to work apart instead of together.

At the very first First Friday in 2002, however, Abadia “did a little play, under the stairs at the Arts Factory, and I started to get to know some folks,” he says. “All those seeds were planted,” leading to “a more cooperative frame of mind” in the local theater scene.

“In the next 10 to 20 years, we’re definitely on track for regional theater in Las Vegas,” he predicts.

As for the role he’s played in helping Las Vegas theaters get on that track, “I think I’ve definitely lived a Las Vegas life,” Abadia says, likening his experience to Native American tribes “using up every piece of the buffalo.”

It’s a Las Vegas life worthy of enthusiastic applause.

Contact Carol Cling at ccling@reviewjournal.com or 702-383-0272. Follow @CarolSCling on Twitter.