The Astor Theatre in Liverpool held a community town hall on Sunday afternoon to try to clear up some of the controversy that has recently swirled around the historic theatre.
It all started a month ago, after the musical Follies wrapped in March. The director of that play, Ashley-Rose Goodwin, was also the theatre’s associate artistic director and led many youth theatre workshops. For reasons that are unclear, she resigned from the Astor.
Since then, rumours and allegations have been rampant about her resignation, pitting some in the community against the Astor Theatre board and new executive director Jerri Southcott, who took over in early February.
About 70 people showed up for the two-hour long session. It was at times heated, with some very pointed questions from audience members. Others were supportive of the board. Many in the audience were unclear about what caused the controversy in the first place.
QCCR News went to the meeting and sheds some light on the reasons for the difficulties. There will also be another community meeting on Monday night, which QCCR will attend.
