the week of july 18-22, 2022

no more NDAs

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Graphic Design: Elizabeth Haley Morton | Editorial Support: Rebecca Adelsheim

victory gardens update

On Tuesday, recently dismissed artistic director Ken-Matt Martin posted a statement on the unfolding situation at Victory Gardens, sharing that the Board released him from his contract “with cause”, but refused to provide him with further explanation. Martin was offered “a minimum amount of severance and was asked to sign an NDA and give up all claims on future lawsuits.” He declined.

(It is the official position of Nothing for the Group that you can’t create safe, respectful workplaces if former employees are legally bound from speaking freely about their experiences, but since the Victory Gardens board doesn’t value transparency, accountability, artistic and professional expertise, common sense, its leaders or its staff — this move doesn’t surprise me!)

Ken-Matt’s entire statement is a necessary read. I am relieved to be free from the daily grind of institutional theatre, but I read this and thought, “I’d go back to work for this guy.” His words radiate with care for the remaining staff and artists. It’s also a succinct and clarifying summary of the familiar cycles of dysfunction and systemic issues plaguing the theatre industry:

“American theaters are not built to center the needs of the artists or the staff. They are top-heavy institutions that cater to donors’ preferences, that twist themselves into pretzels to fit foundations’ latest giving priorities, and that give boards composed of professionals from other fields ultimate sway over how theater is made.”

“Most of the members of the Victory Gardens board are dedicated individuals who have made many sacrifices over many years for what they see as the good of the theater. And yet, they continue to operate in a vacuum, disregarding the expertise of the qualified leaders they hire and also discounting the wisdom of experienced non-profit professionals who are their peers on the board. My efforts to bring in mediators or outside consultants to find a healthier path forward were routinely put off. Whether or not they intend it as individuals, this board is enforcing a culture of top-down hierarchy and secrecy that is deeply at odds with the culture of transparency and accountability to stakeholders that we are trying to build as a staff.” 

Martin also wrote that he was “humbled” by the staff’s public call to have him re-instated, but that he would not immediately return:

“After enduring the whiplash of the last decade of my career, which has included three executive leadership positions at theaters of three very different sizes, encompassing high-level experience on both the general management and artistic side, I can say with confidence that I am burnt out. I may return one day; but for now I am going to focus on pursuing other opportunities.”

More writing and updates:

• Rob Weiner-Kendt’s reporting for American Theatre, wherein no one on the Board would speak on the record.

• ReScripted posted an open letter from VG’s past, present and future resident companies — Sideshow Theatre Company, Firebrand Theatre, and Teatro Vista — vowing not to rent space at the theatre until the current Board resigns.

• The remaining staff of Victory Gardens — known as The VG Nine — posted an update on their public demands on July 18th. There are several new transitional Board members ready to step in — with skilled advisors and significant pledged funds to aid the transition, contingent on the current Board’s full resignation. The current Board has also retained an interim managing director from “a corporate crisis management firm, who has no recognized theatre or non-profit experience.”

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in person theatre

• Jade Anouka’s Heart is now playing at the Minetta Lane through August 14th Ola Ince directs the British actor/poet’s world premiere solo work about “discovering love in the last place—and with the last person—expected.” (It is also available on Audible.)

• Clarence Coo’s On That Day in Amsterdam runs July 23 - September 4 at Primary Stages. Zi Alikhan directs the work set “the morning after a one-night stand, [when] a refugee from the Middle East wakes up next to an American backpacker who is himself the son of immigrants. With only a day until the two young men must each leave Amsterdam, they set off on a romantic journey through the city.”

• Lookingglass Theatre Company’s annual community event Sunset 1919 is on July 27th. Curated and coordinated by Arkey Adams, Kareem Bandealy, and J. Nicole Brooks, the sunset ritual “commemorates the start of the 1919 Chicago race riots, peacefully honoring the lives of Black people impacted by the deadly racial attacks that swept the nation that summer.”

• Tanya O’Debra’s Shut UP, Emily Dickinson runs July 28 - August 13 at Abron Arts Center. Sara Wolkowitz directs the “pseudo-historical, quasi-biographical, hysterically existential, sadomasochistic psycho-romance about America’s most brilliant and annoying poetess.”

• The world premiere of Moisés Kaufman and Amanda Gronich’s Here There Are Blueberries starts July 26th at La Jolla Playhouse. Kaufman also directs the piece, which centers on an album of never-before-seen concentration camp photos and the archivists and descendants unraveling the story behind the shocking images.

• New York Stage and Film continues its summer season. Upcoming festival events include workshop readings of Julia Doolittle’s Tell Them I’m Still Young (directed by May Adrales), Keenan Scott II and Tre Matthews’ musical The Return of Young Boy (directed by Steve H. Broadnax III), and César Alvarez’s The Potluck (directed by Sarah Benson).

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2022-23 season updates

• Atlantic Theater Company announced its 2022-23 season. The company will produce five world premieres: Gracie Gardner’s I’m Revolting (directed by Knud Adams), Lloyd Suh’s The Far Country (directed by Eric Ting), Deepa Purohit’s Elyria (directed by Awoye Timpo), Lucas Hnath’s A Simulacrum (directed by Hnath), and Simon Stephens and Mark Eitzel’s musical Cornelia Street (directed by Neil Pepe).

• Book-It Repertory Theatre in Seattle announced its 2022-23 season. The line-up includes Caridad Svich’s In the Time of Butterflies (based on Julia Alvarez’s novel, directed by Ana María Campoy), the improvised Austen Unbound (directed by Dave Morris), Agatha Christie’s The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (adapted by Danielle Mohlman, directed by Jasmine Joshua), and David Grieg’s adaptation of Solaris (directed by AD Gus Menary).

• Lincoln Center will produce Sarah Ruhl's Becky Nurse of Salem this fall. Rebecca Taichman will direct the dark comedy, which will star Deirdre O’Connell as “a modern-day descendent of accused witch Rebecca Nurse in Salem.” (The play had its world premiere at Berkeley Rep in 2019.)

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the regional theatre game of thrones

• Eric Ting stepped down as artistic director of Cal Shakes. Ting led the Bay Area theatre for seven years and cited his family’s pandemic relocation back to New York as the reason for his departure.

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things I read this week when i wasn’t in a sudafed haze

• Rosie Brownlow-Calkin on the current and future landscape of equitable early career opportunities after many theatres eliminated, suspended, or remade their exploitative training programs. (American Theatre)

• Rebecca Rubin, Brent Lang, and Gene Maddaus’ reporting on the many financial and management failures behind Paradise Square (Variety). Actor Clinton Roane also wrote a statement about the harm he experienced while working on the pre-Broadway production at Berkeley Rep. (I gotta say, pretty bold — and by bold, I mean utterly brainless — of Berkeley Rep to try to kick an injured actor out of housing without notifying his agents or Equity.)

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that’s not a living wage

Here are this week’s featured underpaid job listings, paired with the living wage for a 40-hour work week for one adult with no children in that area and the most recently available 990 data. (You can read more about the methodology here.)

• Executive Assistant, New York Theatre Workshop: $42,500

  • Living Wage for NYC: $56,718

  • Expenses (2020): $7.9 million / Revenue Less Expenses: $789,784

  • Executive Compensation: $191,122 (Artistic Director) / $180,864 (Managing Director)