Toil and trouble at Skylight Opera Theatre

When news broke late last week that the Skylight Opera Theatre’s board had suddenly fired Bill Theisen, its popular artistic director, by eliminating his position, status updates on Twitter and Facebook started flying like so much high-tech fur. Theater guy and rabble rouser Jonathan West has been tirelessly rallying the troops in protest on his Facebook page, Twitter, and at his blog. On Monday, Tom Strini, the Milwaukee Journal-Sentinel’s music and dance critic, called for both Theisen’s reinstatement and the resignation of managing director Eric Dillner (who is to absorb the role of artistic director). Skylight musical director Jamie Johns protested the move—and was promptly fired for  insubordination, according to a post on West’s blog. In all, six people have been canned at Skylight, including the janitor, the company manager, the box office manager, the assistant box office manager, Theisen, and Johns. Meanwhile, the board has remained silent, except for a statement on Skylight's website insisting that the cuts were a “response to the economic downturn.” 

We don’t know much about the inner workings of musical theater here at Decider, but we do recognize corporate shenanigans and mishandled restructuring when we see it. (Who doesn’t these days?) Most of all, we’re pretty sure that an arts organization needs its artistic folks, and that you just can’t whip up art in a boardroom. But don't take it from us, take it from the newly unemployed Jamie Johns: