Woodford Theatre community mourns longtime actor Terry Withers after fatal crash

VERSAILLES, Ky. (FOX 56) — The Woodford Theatre community is mourning the loss of one of its most familiar faces, who died Monday. Terry Withers, 69, died on March 9 after a car crash in Woodford County. Friends and fellow performers said his loss was felt across the central Kentucky theater community. Withers had been part of more than 35 productions at Woodford Theatre, dating back to the company’s founding in 2002. Audiences saw him in several notable shows over the years, including "Moon Over Buffalo" and "The Wizard of Oz." Executive artistic director of Woodford Theatre, Daniel Ellis, said Withers had a natural ability to captivate an audience. “His gift was entirely natural. He was a showman even when he was offstage. He had a real gift for storytelling. And could tell stories from his own life or from other people's lives that he had encountered in experience, in such a way that made you hang on every word,” Ellis said. Ellis said the news of Withers’ death came as a shock to many in the theater community. Beyond his performances, Withers helped shape the spirit of the theater itself. In fact, Ellis recalled one director saying that if Woodford Theatre had a “Mount Rushmore,” Withers would be one of the faces carved into it. “The person directing that show said, 'When I think of Woodford Theatre, if Woodford Theatre had a Mount Rushmore attached to it, Terry’s face would be one of the main faces that would be attached to it,'" he said. Ellis added that Withers was someone who helped build community within the theater. “Those people who are especially gifted in that act of community are the people we probably mourn the deepest. So, when that mourning is so grand and so great, it can only reflect how much the person actually meant, and he did mean a great deal to a lot of people,” he said. Ellis also shared one of the last conversations he had with Withers, a moment that reflected how much the theater meant to him. “More than anything, I'm grateful for the history and the legacy that he shared of his own stories and of this place. The last conversation we had, the last thing he said to me was, ‘Daniel, you know, I love that place. I know you roll your eyes when you hear me say that.’ And I said, ‘Terry, I have to stop you. Not once have I ever rolled my eyes. I love that you love this place. And I need you to. I want you to,’” he said. Funeral services for Withers will be held at 2 p.m. on Thursday, March 12, at Troy Presbyterian Church in Versailles.