Departure of PTE artistic director doesn’t exist in a vacuum

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This article was published 20/04/2024 (505 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

To cap off a turbulent year at one of the city’s most venerable theatre companies, Prairie Theatre Exchange will now close out its 2023-24 season with its top artistic position and top management position soon to be vacated.

On Thursday afternoon, PTE announced that after six years in the artistic director’s seat, Thomas Morgan Jones has accepted a full-time position at an arts company outside the province. The move comes less than two weeks after managing director Lisa Li announced her impending departure from the company to join Toronto’s Tarragon Theatre as that institution’s executive director.

“Jones will continue to co-lead the company through the end of (this season) and will spend the ensuing months assisting with the hiring and transition of a new managing director,” PTE wrote in a media release.

“His tenure as artistic director will end on July 31, 2024.”

The company says that it plans to hire a new managing director this spring, with the job posting closing on the last day of April. After that, the company says it will begin the search process for a replacement for Jones, whose new position has not yet been publicized.

“The past six years at Prairie Theatre Exchange have been absolutely extraordinary,” Jones said in the release. “I am deeply grateful and humbled to have been a part of the history of this organization. My heartfelt thanks to the board, staff, audiences, donors, funders and the wonderful artists of the Winnipeg theatre community. It has been an honour and a great privilege to serve as artistic director.”

While it can’t fairly be said that the two leaders are leaving because of the company’s challenges — Li lived and worked in Toronto for the bulk of her career, including a four-year stint as a producer at Soulpepper, one of that city’s most influential companies — the now-joint exit can’t be untangled from the current context at PTE, which has been riddled with the wrong kind of attention since the company’s leadership issued end-of-season terminations of several positions earlier this year.

In January, citing financial hardships and a growing loss of revenue north of $500,000, PTE informed the bulk of its production team — production manager, technical director, head of wardrobe, head carpenter and props master — that their positions would be terminated at season’s end.

Many of the responsibilities associated with those production roles were then folded into one position called the manager of technical production, facilities and rentals, leaving many in the theatre community concerned about the future of the company, which started 50 years ago as the Manitoba Theatre Workshop and has hosted more than 150 world premières.

A few weeks later, the theatre was at the centre of discussions about the economic merits of supporting new work — something Jones and Li have championed during their time at PTE — during a period in performing arts marked by post-pandemic uncertainty.

Chief among those voices was philanthropist Gail Asper, a leading patron of the Manitoba arts world, who in February wrote a widely read letter to the editor of the Globe and Mail regarding the financial realities unfolding at PTE.

“Any world première is inherently risky and often a licence to lose money and subscribers,” wrote Asper, who remains a patron at PTE, the company says. “A Canadian world première is even more risky, as Canadian shows are often underworkshopped and underfunded. They should only be presented if a theatre can withstand the losses.”

On the heels of that imbroglio, Jones and PTE announced in March the lineup for their upcoming 52nd season, which includes five Canadian productions and four world premières, including Jones’ own script for The Killing at La Cucina, a show that will run in next season’s program with Jones’ successor at the artistic helm.

In conversation at that time with the Free Press, Jones expressed optimism for the company’s future while also reasserting his support for PTE’s ongoing mandate of supporting new works by new voices.

“The history of PTE is built on supporting new works, both locally and around the country. It’s really important to encourage a local, provincial and national culture of playwrights and creation. One of the best ways for the great playwrights in this country to become better known is for theatres to produce them. A company like ours can be a launching pad,” he said.

• • •

Jones’ tenure at PTE began in July 2018 when the then-38-year-old artistic director of Theatre New Brunswick moved west. Born in Oshawa, Ont., Jones called PTE “one of the most exciting companies,” in the country.

Jones’ arrival was accompanied by promise, but also the growing pains associated with the emergence of a new guard. The previous artistic director, Robert Metcalfe, had held the position for 15 seasons, the longest term for any AD in company history. Two years earlier, Cherry Karpyshin had retired as PTE’s general manager after 50 years in Winnipeg theatre.

In many senses, the 2018-19 season, co-programmed with Metcalfe, was the only normal year during Jones’ career at PTE.

The following season started with an emphasis on Manitoban work, with a première of Ian Ross’s The Third Colour. But just as Jones and company might have otherwise hit their stride, the World Health Organization declared a pandemic right after the world première of By Grand Central Station.

The remaining two shows in the 2019-20 season proper were cancelled, as was the entire Leap Series, a Metcalfe-era innovation highlighting smaller experimental shows.

The next two seasons mostly occurred in digital-only presentations.

During Li and Jones’ tenure, there have been several highlights, most notably the world première of Jessica B. Hill’s Pandora; a production of Makambe K. Simamba’s Our Fathers, Sons, Lovers and Little Brothers; and an ongoing partnership between PTE and local improv troupe Outside Joke.

The pandemic-enforced pivot to the digital era resulted in 14 online productions and opened new doors for future programming.

This current season still has over a month to go, with The Year of Magical Thinking closing on Sunday and Sharon Bajer and Elio Zarrillo’s The Outside Inn set to run from May 7 through May 19.

PTE did not make Jones or Li available for interviews.

ben.waldman@winnipegfreepress.com

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