You need to incorporate, but be sure you have perpetual duration.  Best bet is to seek the advice of a lawyer.  Ask around and find one who will work for little or no money (they all do some amount of gratis work).  This kind of hierarchy DOES work, but you need to have all your T's crossed and I's dotted before you move any further along ... be sure you have everything laid out exactly as you want it before you send in any paperwork.

There are other things you can do to retain control.  I have seen by-laws that give almost all the power to the Artistic Director and another set that gives the power to the President. 

Each state has a minimum number of people on a board of directors.  Most states that I am aware of that number is three.  You could appoint a good friend to that third seat and be assured of permanent control.  Most theaters have larger boards to spread the work and raise money for the theater.

The secret to control is the Nominating Committee who gets to select the candidate(s) for the board.  Another secret is the number who can change the by-laws or Articles of Incorporation - make the number high - like 75% instead of a simple majority.

As suggested above a lawyer can help draft language that will give you whatever control you want.

As a sideline, I have seen discussions of theaters who are moving into their teen years.  For the most part, theaters that are formed by and individual with a vision, maintain that vision as long as the founder remains involved.  The teen years begin when that founder leaves and the organization struggles to find a new/changed vision to carry them into the future.

I started our theater eight years ago and appointed the first Board of Directors and I am still President, still select the season and do all the rest of the stuff to keep us going.  We have only had one change on the Board of Directors in all that time.  No one wants to leave.  We are still having fun.

I would suggest *first* holding a public meeting to be sure that there is enough interest in a community theater.  Also if you are insisting on maintaining control it becomes less of a "community" theater and more of a "private" theater.  I am the Veep of a small community theater in Indiana getting ready to start its 32nd season. If you would like to see our by-laws and other governing docs, they are online at http://www.geocities.com/rushcountyplayers/documents.html

I just wanted to tell you I started a Community/Youth theater group almost 2 years ago. I have kept it a  for profit group because I have heard horror stories of founders getting voted out by boards, and you do not get to control everything a board does etc....

We all want to see our vision in our theatre but remember that theatre is a team sport, and people like to feel like they have a say in what happens. One of the theatres I worked with went belly up because the 2 guys who set it up stoped getting along. Most of their staff and vols left because of the whole it is my vision or no theatre thing.  We were told that only their vision was right and even though many of us had studied theatre just like they did we could not know as much as they do. These 2 guys went so far as to send a letter out to a cast that had just finished it's run telling them they didn't know squat about the art of theatre and that because the director had a BS in theatre from  Northwest Missouri State U he knew more about theatre and therefore what was best for the entire theatre community. needless to say this guy can not get a gig anywhere in town because of his almighty vision.(btw, the show has been a smash with 6 sellouts and rave reviews)