Hollywood Reporter: Days after announcing a new artistic director, The Geffen Playhouse is being sued by the person who had held the job for nearly two decades.
Randall Arney, 61, says he was forced out after 17 years and replaced by someone 20 years younger. He is suing the theater for age discrimination and libel, alleging in a complaint filed Tuesday in Los Angeles County Superior Court that he was fired and the Geffen lied when it said he stepped down.
1 comment:
After having seen a couple of productions at the Geffen Playhouse in Los Angeles, this controversy surprises me greatly, as I did not at all know that there was any disparagement after or during the turnover of Artistic Directors in recent months. In an industry that is known to younger generations as one that is so inclusive of all people of different identities (whether that be with regards to gender, sexuality, race, beliefs, and age), these issues over agism suits, racism suits, etc. can be very unexpected. In theatre, and in any sort of public storytelling, it is so increasingly important to give voices to all types of people from all sorts of backgrounds and identities. I believe that sometimes, in trying to get new and unique voices into the theatre industry and world, we can focus too much on young voices, and that a lot of the time, we leave behind older and more experienced voices. Theatre is about the collaboration of many perspectives, and if we leave out the perspectives of older people, younger people, and everyone in between, we begin to lose some of that perspective.
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