Skylight's Eric Dillner resigns
The polarizing managing director departs, signaling a new direction for the opera company
In a move that seemed to be increasingly inevitable, Skylight Opera Theatre managing director Eric Dillner has resigned from the Milwaukee arts group almost two months after sparking a raging, New York Times-level controversy over the firing of former artistic director William Theisen. Skylight’s interim board president Terry Kurtenbach told the Journal Sentinel that Dillner was not asked to resign, and Dillner said in a statement announcing his resignation that he leaves on good terms. From the outside looking in, however, it appears to be anything but amicable, given the veritable poop-storm this story and its ample collateral damage created.
At any rate, Colin Cabot—a Skylight veteran who had canceled a performance in the midst of the Dillner hubbub—will take over as interim artistic director, and Joan Lounsbery will handle management duties. Theisen hasn’t gotten his old title back, but he will be back directing four out of the five shows he initially planned to helm.
