| Calgary playwright Clem Martini says there must be a "virus" going around that’s causing healthy local theatre companies to get rid of longstanding artistic directors.
Earlier this season, a successful Theatre Calgary decided not to renew its contract with artistic director Ian Prinsloo. Last week, Lunchbox Theatre announced that its contract with artistic director Johanne Deleeuw had been terminated, even though its board president claims the company is not in financial trouble.
"Is it a virus or something? Is it something in the air?" asks Martini, a veteran member of the city’s theatre scene. "In both cases, it wasn’t like, ‘Wow, the audience is turning away. We have to take drastic action.’"
Deleeuw, who has been involved with Lunchbox Theatre since 1988, first as a stage manager and then for the last six years as artistic director, says that getting the pink slip was a big surprise.
"I was given very little information about what the reason was to terminate my contract. I certainly wasn’t given time to transition in any way," says Deleeuw. "I’m pretty heartbroken that it happened. Personally, it’s been fairly devastating."
But Deleeuw says she’s received a lot of support from the theatre community and Lunchbox Theatre regulars.
Karen Brawley-Hogg, president of Lunchbox Theatre’s board of directors, says ending Deleeuw’s contract "wasn’t an easy decision."
"We are ready to embark on some renewal and the process of renewal requires a new artistic director," says Brawley-Hogg. But she declined to comment on what renewal the company will be pursuing "out of respect for Johanne and everything she’s done."
"When someone has been with the theatre so long, you have a lot of gratitude for them, but it was also time for a change," says Brawley-Hogg. "We are totally focusing on continuing the mandate of high-quality one-act play development and production…. We’re just looking for some new leadership."
Martini, who has had a long association with Lunchbox Theatre, says he’s "saddened and confused and bewildered" that Deleeuw will no longer be there and he questions the wisdom of the decision.
"Johanne is a member who’s respected in the artistic community. By treating her with this kind of disrespect they also cause trouble and dismay within the artistic community. I think they’ve been totally misguided in their process," he says. "I think she was a very hard-working, responsible artistic director and she always had Lunchbox Theatre’s best interests at heart."
Martini, who describes the theatre as "the single most important one-act theatre in the country," says he’s worried about what direction the board of directors wants to take Lunchbox with their latest decision.
"All I can see happening as a result of this is chaos and a sullying of the goodwill Lunchbox Theatre has accomplished," he says.
"An artistic vision is not generated by a board of directors. I don’t think a board of directors is capable of creating that culture of a theatre," he says. "All they can do is safeguard it and protect it, and I don’t think they’re doing that in this case."
Brawley-Hogg says Lunchbox will start a new nationwide search for a director next week. "We’re going to continue what we do best and that is one-act plays, but with a new artistic director," she says. |
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