Thank you, Who Cares. Your wisdom is inspiring. Thank you for clearing up this whole situation in such a concise and thorough manner. Your reference to the Urban Dictionary was particularly enlightening. As it turns out, your comment lends much credence to the definition you presented. I'm surprised it took as long as it did for the pseudonymous intelligentsia to finally chime in (I'm looking at you Samuel L. Jackson.) I was beginning to lose faith in you all. Thankfully, however, you have emerged, reminding us all yet again how misguided and idiotic we are. Thank you. May we all one day be blessed with your laser-sharp wit and ever-increasing knowledge. Until that time, Who Cares, please be patient with us. Please be patient.
I, Adrian Rieder, do resolve to not support the Firehouse Theatre Project in any way until the founding artistic director, Carol Androski Piersol, is reinstated as artistic director, pending the dissolution of the current Board. I will not create work, nor be in the audience, nor donate to, nor be in support of this space until this happens. If you are an artist (supporter, ticket-buyer, donor, student, technician) please join with us in posting this.
“They talk about wanting to make this more of a business. Well there are written procedures with management issues,” Wight says. “And if there were personnel issues with Carol it should’ve been in writing and a formal review process and opportunity to improve -- and that didn’t occur.”
Thank you, Amy Wight. This has been the issue from the start. If the board had legitimate reasons to dismiss Ms. Piersol, and if the proper protocol had been taken, then they should have no problem providing documentation of that. Their inability to do so has left the community no choice but to conclude that their motives were disingenuous. They have had numerous opportunities to provide proof supporting the legitimacy of their actions, but instead they have been silent, ambiguous, and censorial-- to the point that many, including myself, believe is irreparable. If the Firehouse Theatre Project should have any hope of persevering, the current board must accept their gross mishandling of this situation, and focus their efforts on saving the theatre. Reinstate Ms. Piersol as Artistic Director and facilitate the creation of a new board- one that is better equipped to fulfill the mission and execute its successful practice. I, like many others, fear that the longer this is postponed, the more difficult it will be to salvage one of our community's most treasured and necessary institutions.
I agree that much of what you listed is also inappropriate, but if you truly had no shame, you would not hide behind a pseudonym.
I'm sorry, but this is inappropriate. No, it's worse. It is wrong. This is neither the proper forum, nor is it the proper approach. Anonymous and slanderous comments on a public site are in no way "courageous." Say what you want about Carol's response, but she has not slandered a single person on that Board. There is a professional way of handling any situation, and so far the Board has been unable to provide any indication that they have handled this matter professionally. In fact, in actively censoring public outcry on the FTP Facebook page, they are confirming the accusation that they are not acting in the public's trust. I strongly encourage them to acknowledge their mishandling of this situation, or else provide proof to the contrary. But to proceed in this current manner is reprehensible.
Adrian Rieder
Re: “Firehouse’s Fireman Surfaces”
Dear Anonymous, Psuedonymous, Kay Holmes, Jo Kennedy, Regina Carreras, et al- Perhaps you might take this opportunity to explain why 4 more board members have left the organization, and why Managing Director Gini Mallory, who you insisted must stay while Carol Piersol go, also recently "resigned." Though any expectation of straightforwardness, transparency, or integrity has long since diminished as far as the current Firehouse Theatre Project is concerned, there are still those, like me, who naively hope for better from a non-profit beholden to the community it serves. Thank you, and may the inevitable forthcoming cowardly character defamation that we've all come to expect from this organization ensue.
Adrian Rieder