In the wake of multiple allegations of sexual assault and harassment, Gordon Edelstein was fired as Artistic Director of the Long Wharf Theatre Tuesday night at a meeting of the theater’s board of trustees.
Long Wharf Managing Director Joshua Borenstein will oversee both the artistic and administrative aspects of the theater until a new artistic director is found.
In a statement, the theater said: “The board also voted to engage a third party to conduct an independent internal review of staff and board policies and procedures for reporting instances of misconduct. We must ensure that nothing like this happens again.”
Edelstein, who was not at the meeting, did not return emails seeking a comment.
Board chair Laura Pappano met with reporters following the meeting.
Pappano said the vote was unanimous. She said “I called Gordon Edelstein immediately after the meeting to say that he’d been terminated, effective immediately. That was the full extent of the conversation.”
It is uncertain whether Edelstein, who was under a long-term contract with the theater, would receive any severance pay. “That will be between lawyers,” Pappano said.
“The Long Wharf is a very important part of the national theater landscape,” Pappano said. “People will be looking at us to see how we handle this. There are a lot of challenges ahead.
“I feel great about this outcome. Closure is really important.”
Pappano noted that the theater has received great support since allegations against Edelstein were reported. She said staff members had designed pins that read “LWT is me” to express the diversity and collaborative nature of the institution. “One man does not make the theater. The Long Wharf has been here for 52 years. It’s part of the soul of New Haven.”
Pappano had placed Edelstein, 62, on administrative leave Monday morning following the release of a New York Times story documenting numerous allegations of sexual misconduct and inappropriate behavior.
The accusations ranged from humiliating comments to unwanted sexual advances and masturbation.
Some of these incidents had been reported to the theater’s board, and led to counseling for Edelstein. Several of the women who accused Edelstein in the Times article believed the board had not acted strongly enough.
Pappano, a journalist and an activist for gender equality, noted that none of the members of the Long Wharf board when the complaints were filed around a decade ago are on the board today. She also said she had personally read the minutes of the board meetings where the complaints had been discussed, and felt that the incidents as recounted in the Times “differed materially and in tone” from what was apparently shared with the board members in 2006. The Times story also included recent allegations against Edelstein that had not been brought before the theater board.
Edelstein’s administrative leave status meant that he was not allowed on the Long Wharf premises.
Edelstein, who lives in New York, directed two of the first three plays in the current Long Wharf season: “Fireflies,” starring Jane Alexander, and an adaptation of the Chaim Potok novel “The Chosen.” He was not scheduled to direct any of the other shows at Long Wharf this season. Last season, Edelstein directed four of the six shows at the Theatre, including a star-studded production of Samuel Beckett’s “Endgame” and a new musical by Adam Gopnik and David Shire, “The Most Beautiful Room in New York.”
Edelstein also regularly directed at other regional theaters and in New York. In the wake of the Times allegations, it was announced Tuesday that he had been fired as the director of an upcoming production of “Satchmo at the Waldorf” at the Alley Theatre in Houston. Edelstein had directed two previous productions of the play, including one at the Long Wharf.
