Future Remains Unclear For Victory Gardens Theater as New Details Emerge

Will Victory Gardens ever return following the controversy that unfolded earlier this year? Once one of Chicago's most iconic theatre companies, the future is now unclear as more details are emerging about what exactly went down.

As BroadwayWorld previously reported, Artistic Director Ken-Matt Martin was dismissed by the company's board in June of 2022, and claimed that he was not given a reason, nor any disciplinary notices. Following his dimissal, staff began to resign en masse, which was announced via a collective statement on Medium.

In September, the remaining staff attempted to unionize via IATSE, but were later fired by Robert M. Hingsbergen, the "chief executive" of Victory Gardens, before this came to fruition.

Now, in a new report from The Chicago Reader, further details are emerging about the company, with some conflicting information, making it still unclear what the future holds.

A statement from the board obtatined by Reader claims that, in July of this year, "The organization had no show budget and had not secured or signed a single theatrical agreement for a season slated to begin in the fall. These were the responsibility of the Artistic Director. The lack of any planned season, amplified by the challenges the theater industry faced throughout the pandemic, forced the Board to consider an operational change."

However, Roxanna Conner, who briefly served as acting managing director, and Kat Zukaitis, who served as the new play development manager until she was let go in September, alleged that the board statement is inaccurate.

Zukaitis claims that as of June 2022, four full productions were planned for the 2022/23 season, as well as a festival of new work and additional development readings and workshops.

"A season calendar was laid out, title art had been commissioned for each of the four productions, and we were on schedule to announce the coming season in July," she told Reader in an email.

Conner claims that the theatre was not lacking financially, but they struggled due to being without an executive director.

"The theater was not in a bad place financially," she said. "The job of the artistic director was not to do the show budget, nor to complete agreements. That would have been the job of the executive director, which we did not have."

She also says that the company was making up for shortfalls after the loss of several crucial staff members, including director of development, director of finance, and the business manager.

So what does all of this mean for the future of Victory Gardens? According to the statement from the board, "While more information will unfold regarding our future, we will focus to support our mission on two areas moving forward", which include identifying new ways to support emerging playwrights, with a focus on playwrights of color, as well as maintaining the legacy of the Biograph Theater.

"We are exploring options to subsidize other theater companies to use the Biograph Theater for their productions," the board stated. "We are also considering allowing some private rentals to offset the costs inherent in operating a theater."

Read the original story on Chicago Reader.

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