Theaterweek	Events at Studio Arena by Anthony Chase

Events unfolded quickly last week as Studio Arena Theatre, in response to a financial crisis even more dire than most people realized, took drastic action to save the theater. Most notably, 14 employees were abruptly laid off.

The situation was simple. For the past several seasons, Studio Arena has been adding to its deficit to the point that they are well over a million dollars in the hole. They had actually dipped into their endowment to meet costs, and this fall they found themselves unable to make payroll. They went out, hat in hand, to several local charitable foundations and begged. A consortium of foundations begrudgingly and with great irritation, saved the ailing theater with a one-time-only bailout. Seven weeks ago, managing director Ken Neufeld was let go and artistic director Kathleen Gaffney was made the chief executive officer. She was charged with rescuing the tottering institution.

Something should have given long ago.

As 14 employees were cut loose, they hit the pavement talking. Reactions were varied. I received a cordial call from the publicist explaining what had happened and thanking me for past collaboration. I heard from others who were bewildered as to how this could have gone so far with nobody on staff realizing. Others have been going through the stages of grief—from shock, to disbelief, to anger, to depression—online. This latter response has been distributed through the email of one local actress with a flair for drama and no information at hand, who has dubbed the job losses a “massacre,” and repeats the ravings of one of the disenfranchised, allowing him/her to take anonymous potshots at Studio artistic director Kathleen Gaffney, calling her a “train wreck” and casting aspersions on her ability to lead.

Her first full season as artistic director just barely begun and her term as executive director only two months old, it is certainly too early to assess Gaffney’s leadership.

For the record:

Despite the juicy Buffalo News headline and the fact that 14 people sadly lost their jobs, nobody was fired from Studio Arena Theatre. At a moment of real crisis, 14 valued and well-regarded employees were laid off. After years of artistic stagnation and apparent financial obliviousness, Kathleen Gaffney and a notoriously remote board of directors finally took action, lest the theater go belly up. They could not employ people they could not afford to pay.

Gaffney, while resolute in the action taken, is distressed by reading the event described as a firing.

“Eliminating positions due to restructuring is not the same [as firing],” she says. “It does a great disservice to those wonderful employees who were laid off to use the word fired. How will it appear to prospective employers if these employees are viewed as fired? That means they were not doing their jobs well and this was not the case. The Buffalo News used that word and I am writing a letter to the editor to correct that misconception.

“Also there was an inaccurate report that the consultant from JC Jones, Orrin Tobbe, actually broke the news to the people whose positions were eliminated. I did it. I broke the news, said the words to all of them myself. I would not be so cowardly as to have someone else say such heartbreaking words…I could not take each person to their desks personally because I had to go into the meeting where those who were remaining were told that all jobs had been restructured or reorganized. I told them that everyone would be doing twice as much and not getting any more money. I told them that when I became CEO I did not get a dime more in salary. I said this was a situation to which I was hoping they would say yes. And that over the next few days I hoped they would all say yes and let me know in their own specific way at a time best for them. I did not and would not assume that each person would automatically agree.”

Some employees felt wounded by the manner in which they were asked to leave. It was the classic corporate layoff scenario in which you are sent directly to your desk and asked to pack. There were no security guards. Computers were not disconnected.

“It was heartbreaking to lose part of the Studio Arena family so quickly,” said Gaffney, “[but] layoffs have to be handled in a prescribed manner to avoid potential reprisals (not that we felt that anyone was capable of that) but I am the steward of this great theatre and I must err on the side of caution. If I did not, I would not have been a responsible CEO.

“I cannot blame anyone for being upset. Or feeling betrayed. It always happens. I don’t know if you have ever been laid off but I have and it feels terrible. We are helping some people (unofficially) find new situations and would be willing to do that for everyone. Letters of recommendation, phone calls and whatever is required to assist them.”

The story continued to develop as local foundations, unfamiliar with the intimate workings of professional regional theaters try to assess the situation and others in the theater community react in ways ranging from sympathy to wanton opportunism.

At Studio Arena, amidst an air of shock, there seems to be a resolute sense, at least among administration and front of house operations, to do better with less. The upcoming season, soon to be announced, sounds exciting, and as Gaffney is quick to observe, creativity can make up for a lack of funding.

The story is far from over.