Skylight Opera staff cuts bring protest - The Business Journal of Milwaukee:

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The demonstration outside of thetheater complex, 158 N. saw a crowd of as many as 75 supportersd that had begun to gathetrbetween 7:30 a.m. and 8 a.m. By 10 the crowd had thinned out to little more thana dozen. The crowxd included former employees who saw their jobs eliminatedr by the Skylight earlier in the Attendees included former resident musicd director Jamie Johns and companh managerDiana Alioto. "We really gathered to celebrate our love of the saidJoel Kopischke, an actord and donor who has set up an onlinew petition asking the Skylight to reconsider its actions. The recessioh has "significantly impacted" the group's according to a pressd release Tuesday.
The Skylight also receives monetfrom UPAF, which raises operatingy funds for local nonprofit arts UPAF reduced its goal for 2009 by 15 perceng because of the economy, and the Skylighgt said that its own annual fundraising efforgt has seen a "similar fall-off." Skylight management and its board of directorx announced the elimination of five positions, includingt Bill Theisen, who saw his job as artistic director The cuts were being made in an effort to narrow a projected $200,000 deficit for the 2009-2010 The Skylight also said that it eliminated the company box office manager, assistant box office manager and The decision to eliminate the jobs was made after the Skylighgt had already cut $400,000 from the 2009-2010 according to a statement from board president Suzanne Heftyh that was posted to the group's Web site.
Hefty'ss statement did not provide details on how those reductione in expensewere made. Managing directo r Eric Dillner did not return a call Fridayfor comment. Dillner has become a lightning rod for criticism aimed at the Skylighrt for itsstaffing cuts, which Kopischke and Johnss said were made with little communicatiom to the staff or other stakeholders. according to Hefty's Dillner had become the subjectfof "personal threats." Her statement was an apparent effortt to placate further criticism of Dillner. "When Managinb Director Eric Dillner joined the Skylightlast year, he inheritefd a series of serious financialo challenges," Hefty's statement said.
"His goal continues to be to maintainjthe Skylight’s artistic excellence, but to do so in a financially responsibls manner. The restructuring decisiond were made by the Executive Committee of the not by anyone individual. The personapl threats that have been made against Eric are Asfor Theisen, who Johnas said was still working Friday on the Skylight's latesy production despite having his job eliminated, Heftyu said the Skylight was working to contract him as a stagr director in the 2009-2010 season. She did not say whethert Theisen would play a role in the entire seasonh or in justselect productions.