Artistic director’s shock resignation leaves theater community reeling
Orlando’s theater community was left reeling this weekend over the news of critically acclaimed artistic director Joseph C. Walsh’s resignation from the Garden Theatre after three years — a departure that the Winter Garden theater’s board chair said took the nonprofit’s governing body by surprise.
The theater acknowledged Walsh’s departure Friday afternoon with the announcement that former artistic director Rob Winn Anderson will return to the role — the chief creative leader at the theater — on an interim basis until a permanent replacement is selected. Walsh will remain with the theater until July 1 to help with the transition, the announcement said.
The news unleashed a torrent of disbelief on social media, with actors, directors, other creative types and theater patrons using words such as “disheartening,” “unbelievable” and “heartbreaking.” Unusually for Orlando’s tightlipped theater community, other artistic directors publicly expressed their dismay.
“I’m devastated, I’m truly devastated,” wrote Matthew MacDermid, artistic director of the Oviedo-based Ensemble Company, on Facebook.
“This is incredibly saddening and very upsetting,” wrote Craig Uppercue, artistic director of the Athens Theatre in DeLand.
Scores of posters praised Walsh’s commitment to diversifying the Garden Theatre’s performers and staff, with veteran actor Tim Williams, a Winter Garden resident, reflecting that Walsh had created “perhaps the safest, most inclusive theater space in the Orlando area for some of the most diverse talent I’ve seen on stage in this community.”
“Over the last three years every choice I have made has been based on the Garden mission to inspire discovery through theatrical experiences that are innovative, impactful and inclusive,” Walsh said in an interview with the Orlando Sentinel, emphasizing he was speaking personally and not on behalf of the theater. “It is clear from the voices that are speaking out that our team has succeeded in upholding and uplifting that mission.”
In social media comments, many blamed the board of directors for pushing Walsh out, but board chair Allie Braswell said the resignation came as a shock.
“This is a surprise,” he said. “I thought we were moving forward. I was really caught off guard. The board did not ask Joe to leave. This was his own choice.”
Walsh confirmed that he was not asked to resign but said workplace circumstances led to his decision.
“For five months, I have run the organization without a managing director,” he said. “It has taken a toll on my mental and physical health and my capacity to successfully fulfill my job. Every day that goes by without a permanent managing director has a lasting effect on the staff and operations.”
The Garden has had a tumultuous time in keeping a top business executive during the past two years. Executive director Nao Tsurumaki departed in the spring of 2020. His interim replacement, Melissa Mason Braillard, left after two months. In November that year, Elisa Spencer-Kaplan was hired in the newly titled role of managing director. She departed after 13 months, in December 2021, and the position has been vacant since.
In addition, board chair Wes Catlett-Miller stepped down in December to spend more time with his growing family. Braswell took up the position in March, after mourning his wife, who died unexpectedly in November.
About a month ago, the board hired Tom Carto as interim managing director. Braswell praised the staff for doing “an incredible job” in keeping the theater going
while that post was vacant, and said Carto, who is working both remotely and in person, brings 30 years of arts-management experience to the Garden.
The hope is to fill both the managing-director and artistic-director positions by December, Braswell said, “but we’re going to take the time to make the right selections.”
Anderson was chosen to serve as interim artistic director because the board had to act quickly, according to Braswell, and he had held the position before.
“He knows the theater, he knows the community,” Braswell said. “We believe it was sound reasoning.”
Some in the theater community publicly questioned why Roberta Emerson, the theater’s artistic directing consultant, wasn’t asked to fill Walsh’s job, seeing the selection of Anderson, who is white, as a step back from the theater’s commitment to diversity and inclusion under Walsh.
Emerson, who is Black, recently directed the theater’s highly successful production of “Beauty and the Beast,” which was critically lauded for its racially diverse casting, sold out numerous performances and even attracted the attention of Disney Theatrical officials, who flew down from New York to watch the show.
“I don’t agree with some of the stuff out there, that this is white supremacy, that this is racism,” said Braswell, who is Black and works as vice president of diversity, equity and inclusion for VyStar Credit Union. Last week, he was honored by the Orlando Business Journal for his work in that field.
“That is not who the Garden is,” said Braswell, who previously was a member of the Walt Disney Parks and Resorts Global Strategies for Diversity and Inclusion, “and that’s not what the Garden is going to be.”
Braswell said Emerson was not automatically selected for the interim position because as a consultant she was not officially a staff member.
He praised her work — “She’s done an incredible job” — and said she would be retained as a contracted consultant and would be welcome to apply for the permanent position.
Emerson did not comment for this article. Multiple staff members, when asked about working with Walsh at the theater, said they had been instructed not to speak to the press.
Braswell praised Walsh’s achievements: “We see the incredible work he has brought to the theater,” he said. “We wish him all the best in his next chapter.”
Walsh said his biggest achievement, even more than keeping shows going through the COVID-19 pandemic, was making the Garden Theatre more welcoming to people of all ethnicities, sexualities and backgrounds.
“Our staff, crew and creative teams have collaborated to create a space that uplifts voices, allows artists to be heard and understands that diversity without inclusion is performative,” he said. “I am so proud and grateful for everyone that came to work each day to take action to maintain that space.”
In the immediate future, he is codirecting Central Florida Community Arts’ June 17-18 concert staging of “Ragtime” with Emerson, who also consults for that Orlando organization. He also has a previous commitment to work with the summer camp program of the White Plains Performing Arts Center in New York.
Beyond that, Walsh said no matter where his career goes he will push to ensure the industry makes space for underserved theater-makers.
“Although I am not at liberty to directly comment at this time, I want to continue the practice of listening, supporting and uplifting those voices,” he said, adding he was deeply touched by the barrage of public well wishes.
“I am feeling so many things right now but mostly gratitude,” Walsh said. “I am overwhelmed by the outpouring of support from our community. I am truly humbled by the posts, messages and texts I have received over the past few days, and I want to thank every person that took the time to offer comfort while they themselves are hurting.”