hefty/miller respond to guest artists

skylight board president suzanne hefty and immediate past president howard miller have responded to a letter sent by 35 skylight guest artists, designers, directors and technicians regarding the company's restructuring, and the elimination of the position of artistic director.

Date: July 2, 2009
From: Suzanne Hefty, President, Board of Directors
Howard Miller, Immediate Past President, Board of Directors
To: Skylight Opera Theatre Guest Artists

Jordan Ahnquist, actor
Johnna Allen, actor
Liz Baltes, actor
Peter Dean Beck, scenic and lighting designer
Alicia Berneche, actor
Lisa Brescia, actor
Gary Briggle, actor
BJ Cannon, actor
Peter Clark, actor
Niffer Clarke, actor
Tony Clements, actor
Cynthia Cobb, actor
James Coleman, actor
Parrish Collier, actor
Lisa Dames, actor
Dottie Danner, director
Ilana Davidson, actor
Michael Deleget, actor
Donna Drake, director
Annmarie Duggan, lighting designer
Colm Fitzmaurice, actor
Stacey Galloway, costume designer
Michelle (Smith) Gisondi, actor
Ken Goldstein, scenic designer
Rob Hancock, actor
Benjamin Howes, actor
Takeshi Kata, scenic designer
Tari Kelly, actor
Rachel Laritz
Joanne Lessner, actor
John Muriello, actor
Rick Rasmussen, scenic and costume designer
Van Santvoord, scenic designer
Josh Schmidt, sound designer
Donald St. Pierre, music director
Jennifer Swiderski, actor
Rita Thomas, actor
James Valcq, actor
Andrew Wilkowske, actor
Branch Woodman, actor

July 2, 2009

Dear Skylight Opera Theatre Guest Artists:

Thank you for writing your letter to Skylight Opera Theatre’s Board of Directors, received by email on June 25, 2009, in response to the theatre company’s recent structural reorganization. We take your concern for the Skylight very seriously and have attempted to address your key questions here.

We acknowledge that the handling of the restructuring, position eliminations and the subsequent public response should have been handled differently and that the underlying reasons were not spelled out in sufficient detail in advance of the announcement. As the economy and our budget allow, we will continuously review the Skylight’s business model. However, please know that this heartbreaking and difficult decision will not be reversed.

The restructuring was a proactive decision which, had we not undertaken would have brought us to an untenable financial situation. Cash flow has been a constant struggle at the Skylight for four years as the company has gone from having a $200,000 cash surplus to a debt of $414,000 (as of June 30, 2009). In 2005-2006, we were forced to open a line of credit, using the Broadway Theatre Center building as collateral, to cover payroll, vendor expenses, production costs and general operating needs. In the past year, Skylight’s restricted endowment has declined by 25%.

In January 2009, the first attempt was made to establish a projected balanced budget for the 2009-2010 season. We subsequently learned of a 15% reduction in UPAF’s fundraising goal and declining grants from foundations and corporations. The Skylight’s overdependence on contributed revenue required an immediate analysis of the theatre’s cost structure in producing shows. Without a critical review of our personnel structure, we risked severely impacting the performance quality Skylight audiences have come to expect. Economists are projecting no significant change in contributed income patterns through 2010, adding additional pressure to our future needs.

The Broadway Theatre Center (BTC) is owned and operated by the Skylight. Built in 1993, this theatre and office complex has been home or provided performance space to numerous non-profit, for-profit and theatre companies. Though the BTC was originally a source of revenue, the 16-year-old buildings are now a major expense.

Everything from the roof, heating and cooling system, sidewalks, bathrooms, office space and theatres themselves are in need of attention. The production and administrative staff, with input and direction from the Board, has implemented significant cuts in the last three seasons. Everything from paper usage to lumber and climate control has been analyzed from a cost-savings perspective. As
some staff positions became vacant, they were not filled; their duties were absorbed by other staff members. Examples include our production manager taking on the facility director’s responsibilities, our development director assuming management of the bar, and our development coordinator administering special events and rentals.

We have also brought previously outsourced duties in-house, including the design of most of our marketing materials and website. We have also worked to find new sources of revenue. For instance, the Skylight’s administrative offices were moved to previously vacant BTC office space in order to provide tenant space for two non-profit theatre companies. Through this series of expense reductions, the utmost attention was paid to avoid affecting the daily operations of our artistic department. The artistic department remained the last significant pool of resources to be evaluated; we could not insulate this department from the financial realities any longer.

The artistic director and company manager were involved in budgeting discussions as members of the senior staff. We acknowledge your wish to have been included in these discussions. While attempts at better communication will be made in future seasons, certain aspects of the theatre company governance must be handled by Skylight staff and Board only.

Because we acknowledge the important responsibilities of the artistic director and company manager, we knew that these tasks had to be formally combined with other job titles. The Executive Committee approached Managing Director Eric Dillner and, with knowledge of his past artistic leadership, asked him to assume the artistic management of the organization. The duties of the company manager, box office manager, box office assistant manager and custodian will be spread throughout the company ensuring timely and effective attention to each task and responsibility. We have great confidence in Eric’s general and artistic management abilities.

The next few seasons will present new challenges and opportunities as the Skylight continues to adapt its business model to the changing economy. We firmly state that the Skylight’s artistic vision has not changed. The Skylight’s mission as a non-profit, professional performing organization is to bring the full spectrum of music theatre works to a wide and diverse audience.

We respect Bill Theisen greatly and appreciate your loyalty to him. We learned yesterday that he has accepted our offer to contractually stage direct The Barber of Seville, Plaid Tidings and The Marriage of Figaro and to write and stage direct The Long and Short of It. Though we offered Bill a contract for a fifth production, he has chosen to accept work elsewhere during that timeframe.

We are passionate about the Skylight and have personally invested significant time, energy and financial resources to the success of the company. We invite each of you to help the Skylight succeed in any way you can.

Sincerely,

Suzanne Hefty
President, Board of Directors

Howard Miller
Immediate Past President, Board of Directors


the original letter sent from skylight guest artists:


Dear Mr. Dillner and members of the Board,

The recent restructuring of Skylight Opera Theatre, which has made news both nationally and locally, has given us cause for concern. As Guest Artists at Skylight, we have been impressed with the passion and integrity that is brought to bear on every facet of each production. It is a well-run, successful organization that cares deeply about the quality of its product. It is also a place where artists from all over the country can come and apply their craft, knowing that their contributions will be welcome, respected, and celebrated.

We understand the financial effect that has been felt at Skylight. It has been felt at theatres all across the country. Certainly steps needed to be made to ensure that Skylight, Wisconsin’s premier home for Musical Theatre, would remain sound and continue to present the highest caliber offering possible.

But surely this move to drastically restructure is one that could have been avoided. If there had been communication in open meetings rather than behind closed doors, certainly compromises could have been made, other ideas could have been discussed and, with the collective minds working towards the collective good, another solution could have been found.

It is a grave choice to eliminate the artistic head of an organization, especially one as dedicated, hard-working, and outstanding as Bill Theisen. Under his leadership, Skylight has garnered some of the best press and public reviews of its 50-year history. He has raised the bar artistically and has also been the face of Skylight for the public in a way few have. His history with the theatre is unlike anyone else’s connected to it.

Additionally, a theatre the size of Skylight which produces as much as Skylight does, cannot run efficiently without a Company Manager. The Company Manager is one of the most important positions in any theatre. The care and organization of everything having to do with not only the Guest Artists, but also the local artists, arranging travel, securing housing, issuing contracts, scheduling auditions, the daily ins and outs of the staff, communications with many vendors, and the complete oversight of all that happens within the walls of Skylight come from the desk of the Company Manager. The impression of a theatre can be made or ruined by a Company Manager. Absorbing ALL of these duties and the Artistic Director duties is untenable.

Shortsighted would be an understatement for these actions. But it is not too late. Before the integrity of Skylight suffers further in the eyes of the local theatergoers and donors, and in the eyes of those of us around the country who happily and eagerly accept offers to come to Skylight; before the reputation that Skylight has enjoyed around the country because of the Guest Artists, who faithfully and happily recommend Skylight to friend and peers, begins to suffer, we, the undersigned, petition you to explain why these decisions were made, why they were communicated so poorly, why a plan that appears to have such great conflict of interest and very little support from the stakeholders was allowed to move forward. We ask you to reconsider the changes made, to find new solutions to the financial problems, and continue the artistic excellence that Skylight has enjoyed under Bill Theisen’s tenure.

Most Sincerely,

Jordan Ahnquist, actor (South Pacific, White Christmas)

Johnna Allen, actor

Liz Baltes, actor (Anything Goes, A Grand Night for Singing, Animal Crackers, Blues in the Night)

Peter Dean Beck, scenic and lighting designer

Alicia Berneche, actor

Lisa Brescia, actor (The Last Five Years)

Gary Briggle, actor (Sweeney Todd, The Threepenny Opera, Hansel and Gretel, A Talent to Amuse, Let’s Misbehave, Iolanthe, The Mikado, Patience, Pirates of Penzance)

Peter Clark, actor (Pirates of Penzance ’09)

Niffer Clarke, actor (Pirates of Penzance ’09, Patience, Tintypes)

Tony Clements, actor (Floyd Collins, Hello Dolly, Guys and Dolls, Falsettos, Wings, and 10 other shows, former Resident Artist)

Cynthia Cobb, actor

James Coleman, actor (The Threepenny Opera, The Turn of the Screw)

Parrish Collier, actor (The All Night Strut, Smokey Joe’s Café)

Lisa Dames, actor (Triumph of Love)

Ilana Davidson, actor (Candide, The Jewel Box)

Donna Drake, director

Annmarie Duggan, lighting designer

Colm Fitzmaurice, actor (The Mikado, Midnight Angel, Tartuffe)

Michelle (Smith) Gisondi, actor (The Mikado, The Most Happy Fella, Sweeney Todd, The Three Penny Opera, A Funny Thing . . ., Little Shop of Horrors, A Couple of Holiday Ho-Ho’s)

Ken Goldstein, scenic designer (Animal Crackers, Smokey Joe’s Café, Blues in the Night)

Rob Hancock, actor (A Funny Thing . . . Forum, Lady Be Good, Hello Dolly, former Resident Artist)

Benjamin Howes, actor (A Funny Thing. . . Forum, Lady Be Good, Little Shop Of Horrors, Animal Crackers)

Takeshi Kata, scenic designer (Madam Butterfly, Abduction from the Seraglio, The Tragedy of Carmen, La Traviata)

Tari Kelly, actor (And the World Goes Round, Triumph of Love, Chicago)

Joanne Lessner, actor (Pirates of Penzance , A Little Night Music)

John Muriello, actor

Rick Rasmussen, scenic and costume designer

Van Santvoord, scenic designer (Don Pasquale, The Turn of the Screw, Don Giovanni, The Christmas Schooner, Little Women, Tartuffe, The Midnight Angel, The Barber of Seville, The Marriage of Figaro)

Josh Schmidt, sound designer

Donald St. Pierre music director

Jennifer Swiderski, actor (South Pacific)

Rita Thomas, actor (South Pacific)

James Valcq, actor (over 40 shows since 1970)

Andrew Wilkowske, actor (Figaro in 2009-10 The Barber of Seville & The Marriage of Figaro, La Traviata, Hansel and Gretel, Iolanthe, Don Giovanni, The Barber of Seville 1999, Don Pasquale)

Branch Woodman, actor (The World Goes Round, The All Night Strut, Chicago, Tintypes, Smokey Joes Cafe [also Dance capt], White Christmas [also assist choreographer and dance capt])