Gordon Edelstein.
The show will go on at Long Wharf Theatre without disgraced Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein.
The regional theater’s board voted Tuesday night to fire Edelstein one day after The New York Times published this extensive expose about Edelstein’s alleged sexual misconduct over many years with numerous employees.
The theater is consolidating the positions of artistic director and managing director. Joshua Borensetin, who held the latter position, will now hold both, the artistic post on an interim basis.
Board Chair Laura Pappano also announced that Long Wharf will hire “a third party” to review the organization’s procedures for dealing with misconduct with aim of “ensuring that nothing like this happens again.”
(Click here to read a previous Independent article about the local fallout from the Times piece.)
It was a rapid, tawdry exit for a leading light of Connecticut’s theater world. Edelstein has not responded to requests for comment.
Following is the full text of a statement Pappano issued Tuesday night:
Long Wharf Theatre’s Board of Trustees voted this evening to terminate Gordon Edelstein as the theatre’s Artistic Director, effective immediately.
The board voted to consolidate artistic and administrative leadership under Managing Director Joshua Borenstein.
The board also voted to engage a third party to conduct an independent internal review of staff and board policies and procedures for reporting instances of misconduct. We must ensure that nothing like this happens again. We’ll announce in the coming weeks who has been retained to perform this review, and the timeframe in which it will be completed.
The board and management of Long Wharf Theatre take seriously the need to ensure a fair, equitable, open and supportive theatre workplace. This is a time that demands sober self-reflection and openness. We must do more to create the kind of working environment that our talented and committed staff deserve. Long Wharf Theatre has long been a place where great things started. We need to make that true on stage — and off.
Gobblygoop Notes: