Garden Theatre aims to put problems in the past

When it comes to the recent issues at Winter Garden’s Garden Theatre, it feels like no level of effort will be good enough in the hearts and minds of some people (“Garden Theatre offers ‘past due’ apology that raises more questions,” March 22). I believe Keith Davenport, Rob Anderson and Rich Taylor, part of the new leadership, were not part of the problem but are trying to put the past to rest so the Garden can move on. No one would disagree that there were problems in the past.

I am a fan of Joe Walsh as the artistic director, but he was left without an executive director and his cry for help needed to be addressed. In most theater companies, the executive director supports the creative vision established by the artistic director, but doing both jobs is very demanding. As a former executive director, I can say it is more than a full-time job. Walsh was dealing with all the artistic issues and trying to keep up with all the other management issues, and he needed more hours to do it all.

I applaud the management team’s efforts to clean the slate. When you are wrong, admit it and then move on — it does not erase the past issue; it acknowledges that it hasn’t been forgotten. We recognize that failing to replace the departed executive directors was a misstep. They learned from this experience and are committed to ensuring that such oversights do not occur in the future.

Gene Columbus

Orlando

Gene Columbus is the former executive director at Orlando Repertory Theatre and a former member of the Board of Directors at the Garden Theatre.