In some ensemble companies, the artistic director is responsible for recruiting performers to act as a talent pool for the company's productions.

For "Township Fever," Mr. Ngema recruited performers with little or no professional experience - as he did for "Sarafina!"

In 1997, when she was 19, she started her first company by recruiting performers from art school, musical school, and model training institutions.

At age 62, Mr. Jones continues to aggressively recruit young and largely unknown performers and to cultivate his ties with hip-hop artists on the cutting edge.

Somehow, managers will have to recruit and retain good performers, reduce turnover and promote a semblance of the institutional loyalty lost amid the turmoil of the last two decades.

In 1976, he was asked to recruit performers for the United States Bicentennial.

Armed with a $10 million budget, Michael Kaiser, the energetic new president of the Kennedy Center, recruited top-flight directors and performers.

Ms. Raffin, who is low key and unpretentious, recruits performers and oversees production of the tapes, which are both abridged and unabridged versions of books.

Mr. Schickele recruits strong performers, and he himself is a respected composer independent of P. D. Q.'s endearing flops.

Mr. Smadbeck, who put a premium on talent and experience, ignored age limits and recruited top performers idled by mandatory retirement clauses at other firms.