Walnut Creek, long proud of supporting the arts by operating one of the few city-run theater companies in the country, has laid off Michael Butler, the theater’s acclaimed artistic director, as the city struggles to overcome a $12 million deficit caused by the COVID-19 pandemic.
The nationally renowned Butler, who has helmed Center Repertory Theatre for 15 years, confirmed Thursday that he had been let go by the city. He was disappointed the city didn’t furlough him, as he requested, and let him return when productions possibly resume at the city’s Lesher Center for the Arts in January 2021.
“Obviously this is a really tough situation for everybody,” Butler said. “I expressed very clearly that I did not expect to be kept on salary when the theater was closed and we were not producing anything.”
During a virtual City Council meeting in June, he asked city leaders to not throw away all the company’s artistic success and role in helping Walnut Creek grow into a thriving East Bay mecca for culture and entertainment.
Local arts lovers and theater colleagues from around the country spoke on Butler’s behalf at several City Council meetings. Many said communities need their arts programs, more than ever, during times of crisis.
“When London was being bombed during World War II, Winston Churchill was asked, ‘Shall we close the theater?'” said Marc Jacobs, who has directed two productions for Center Rep. “He said, ‘If we do that, what are we fighting for?'”
Butler’s dismissal comes as theater companies around the Bay Area, and the country, are struggling to survive the COVID-19 pandemic and resulting shelter in place orders. Most companies have put off all performances until next year.
But Butler’s dismissal also highlights the parallel debate facing long-prosperous and outwardly placid Walnut Creek: The pandemic’s damage to the local economy and growing community unrest over police and racism following the killing of George Floyd in Minneapolis.
The council agreed to a 2021 fiscal year budget that involved a combination of furloughs and the elimination of 19 positions, including Butler and 10 others in the Arts and Recreation department. The budget called for eliminating only one already-vacant position in the police department.
At the June 30 meeting, some speakers asked how the city could consider laying off Butler — “a beacon” of talent and integrity, they said — but minimize budget cuts to a police department that allowed its officers to fire tear gas and rubber bullets at young people during the June 1 protest against police brutality. In questioning the city’s priorities, activists also reiterated concerns about the June 2019 police shooting of Miles Hall, a Black resident who was suffering a mental health crisis.
As council members expressed the need to maintain public safety, Butler urged them to not “underestimate the civilizing power of the arts.” He said the hundreds of patrons who attend shows at the Lesher Center on Friday and Saturday nights “bring safety and harmony” to downtown.
Robert Barry Fleming, a Black director who got his start directing shows for Butler at Center Rep, said the city needs fair-minded leaders like Butler, as the country faces “a reckoning with systemic and structural racism in our country, cities and communities.”
“As an African-American artist and leader, I have experienced first-hand Michael Butler’s artistic discernment, expertise and cultural competence,” said Fleming, now the executive artistic director at the Actors Theatre of Louisville. “He has embodied the artistic and civic goodwill of Center Rep.”
Kevin Safine, director of the Arts and Recreation Department, said eliminating Butler’s position was “difficult” but part of “a longer-term financial strategy” as the city looks to make Center Rep viable when productions resume. He said the city has “deep regard for (Butler’s) professionalism” and the way he connected with audiences, but noted that Center Rep annually operates at a $450,000 deficit, which needs to be made up by the city’s general fund.
But without Butler, his supporters wonder about the company’s future. They praised him for winning audience loyalty by putting together seasons that mix crowd-pleasing musicals and comedies and challenging dramas. He also was known for attracting top actors, dancers, directors and designers with his humor, enthusiasm and because he’s “a great human being who treats people with kindness and respect,” said Orinda resident Jennifer Erdman.
“I have known Michael Butler personally and professionally for nearly 20 years, and I have seen such great, relevant, entertaining and inspiring work done at Center Rep under his leadership,” Jonathan Moscone, former artistic director at the California Shakespeare Theater and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, said in a statement.
Butler said he was proud of connecting Center Rep audiences with high-caliber Bay Area and national theater professionals. He said, “It was a very successful, deeply gratifying relationship that I had with the audience. I’m missing them already.”
Butler became Center Rep’s artistic director during the 2006-2007 season, bringing to the company an eclectic background that included training at the Juilliard School, membership at the Actors Studio and playing in rock bands and writing music, including an original rock musical he took on tour around India.
As an actor, he has performed on Broadway with Victor Garber, Christopher Plummer and Glenda Jackson. As a director, he has worked at companies around the Bay Area and around the country, including at San Jose Rep, the Aurora Theatre Company, the Marin Theatre Company, the Cleveland Playhouse, Seattle Rep, and ACT in Seattle.
