|
|
|
Exit, Stage Right
|
Business New Haven
6/18/2001
By: BNH
|
Issues of blame aside, the unforeseen bitter departure of Douglas Hughes as artistic director of Long Wharf Theatre is a disaster for that institution - and for the theater-goers of Connecticut.
Just three years ago Hughes' hiring was hailed as a tremendous coup that had lost its artistic edge and was struggling to dig itself out of a deep financial hole. With his nation reputation as one of the theater world's brightest young lights, Hughes was the poster boy who would reinvigorate Long Wharf for the new century to come.
How quickly it all went wrong. It's hard for outsiders to know exactly where the flashpoint was, and LWT Chairwoman Barbara Pearce has her board buttoned up pretty tight. In a letter to directors obtained by the Hartford Courant, Hughes wrote that he could no longer countenance meddling in his turf by members of the board.
A source close to the board says there is another side to the story: that Hughes was aloof and unresponsive to the LWT board, and seemed to act as though the board's role was to raise the money needed to keep the theater solvent and stay out of his face today and every day.
A third flashpoint may have been the financial fortunes of the 2000-01 season, which are said to have fallen well below expectations. A source cites in particular the musical Golden Boy, which was hoped to have been the breakthrough production to engage African-American audiences in Connecticut. From all accounts, Golden Boy was an expensive disaster.
Were there other factors as well that contributed to the Hughes debacle? Perhaps, but we don't pretend to know. Long Wharf wants a new theater; the city wants it to be downtown, and there is significant resistance on the board to siting it where patrons would be forced to rub elbows with poor people (as opposed to smelling the sausage factories at the Food Terminal). We don't know if Hughes had a dog in that particular fight. Maybe we'll find out later.
What we do know is this: Hughes' departure and the circumstances surrounding it are a terrible black mark on an institution that was having
|
Go FirstGo PreviousGo
NextGo LastGo
to Index
|
|
