Theisen, Cabot, Kurtenbach Comment

Word went out earlier tonight that Eric  Dillner is out as managing director of the Skylight Opera Theatre; that Bill Theisen would return to direct four shows and advise a fourth; that all of his performers and designers would be restored; and that Colin Cabot and Joan Lounsbery would run the company on an interim basis.

Interim board president Terrance Kurtenbach said that Dillner told him Sunday evening that he intended to resign, then followed through with an official letter on Monday. His interview Wednesday night was the very model of tact and restraint. Did Dillner leave with a push from behind?

“That is absolutely not the case,” Kurtenbach said. “The board is disappointed in Eric’s resignation. I don’t know the reasons Eric resigned.”

He said that the company did not give Dillner a cash settlement to help that decision along.

“I can’t say enough about Eric’s professionalism, honor and dignity,” Kurtenbach said.

More enthusiasm crept into his voice when he spoke about the company’s revived prospects for the coming season. The flood of demands for ticket refunds will certainly reverse as word spreads that Theisen and his hand-picked casts are back in the picture.

“Eric had to get out of the way to allow the good will to flow,” Cabot said, on the phone Wednesday night, amid what sounded like a victory party at the home of director-choreographer Pam Kriger. “Now we can mount a proper season subscription campaign, now that we again have something to sell.”

Cabot, at the Skylight meeting in Catalano Square, July 24:

Cabot, who runs a specialty lumber business in New Hampshire, intends to stay in Milwaukee for at least most of the next two months. He and his wife, Paula Dewey Cabot, will also create and perform a mid-winter two-person show in the Skylight’s Studio Theatre. Cabot is not taking a salary and has a donated apartment for his Milwaukee stays, but he does expect some reimbursement for travel. Lounsbery, who is coming out of retirement in Santa Rosa, Calif., to take this on, will be paid.

Theisen, who was also at the gathering in the Kriger home, said that he played no role in the turnaround beyond letting it be known that he would return if Dillner were gone. Aside from that, Theisen spoke only of the future.

“This will be the season that I set before all of this happened,” he said. “We start rehearsals in less than three weeks! And what an incredible thing to have both Joan Lounsbery and Colin Cabot to help.” Cabot starts tomorrow; Lounsbery is to arrive Aug. 24.

Theisen is not coming back to his old post of artistic director. Oddly enough, Cabot will hold that title, apparently for want of a better alternative, and Lounsbery will be the managing director. Cabot, Theisen and Kurtenbach are still working out a title for Theisen, who has been the public face of the institution for five years.

“The title is not a huge deal to me,” Theisen said. “I just want to get down to it and get ‘Barber’ on the stage.” Barber of Seville opens Sept. 18.

William Theisen

Theisen said that he had always been open to possible restructuring of the Skylight and felt no need to cling to his old title, which he might never reclaim. He said that his long-term official status with the company is uncertain, but that he wants to be part of it into the far future, if only as an occasional guest director.

Cabot and Kurtenbach called for a wide-ranging discussion among all the stakeholders — donors, staffers, board members, performers and so on — for ideas on how to structure and fund the financially distressed company so that it could survive in the long run.

To take care of the short run, Cabot said that Kurtenbach had set an emergency fund-raising goal of $400,000 to $500,000 dollars to get through the coming season and give the Skylight breathing room to remake itself on the business side. Cabot said that he and his friends had raised “a big chunk of that” but had some more work to do — and 10 days to do it in.

“You know, I have other things to do,” Cabot mused, “but this is all so fascinating.”

Below, Skylight performers and fans celebrate Wednesday in Catalano Square. Photo submitted by Michaela Chaconas Ristaino.