For nearly 50 years, Victory Gardens Theater has been a leader in nurturing and producing relevant, new theater work that reflects the diverse stories of our world and contributes to the vitality of the American Theater. We are honored to have produced more world premieres and Chicago premieres, worked with more living playwrights, and exported more new plays for production elsewhere than any other theater in the region. We’re very proud of our history and accomplishments and have no desire to stop fulfilling our mission.

Despite this long-standing, successful history, these past few years have presented many challenges and hurdles that are in direct opposition to our passion, desire, and ability to fulfill our mission. From leadership transitions to the pandemic, the Victory Gardens Board of Directors has had no shortage of challenges that pulled focus from achieving our mission. Our mission has not changed, and it will not change. However, we are changing the ways we will accomplish our mission due to the recent chain of events. There has been a lot of conversation about what happened at our theater with accusations and even attacks and threats directed towards our board members. Now, we’d like to share our side of the story to correct the misinformation that has been spread and return our focus to nurturing relevant, new theater work that reflects the diverse stories of our world and contributes to the vitality of the American Theater.

Misconception
Victory Gardens fired staff without warning because they were attempting to unionize.

Reality
There were a lot of events that led up to the dismissal of Victory Gardens staff. Unfortunately, the artistic director and senior leadership did not create any budgets – no show budgets and no budget for the theater – nor were there any signed theatrical agreements for the upcoming season. We notified hourly staff more than a month before their dismissal. And with no work for the staff, we were in the unfortunate position to dismiss staff. This was not an easy decision, nor was it a decision that was made quickly or in reaction to any single event.

Misconception
Victory Gardens fired Ken-Matt Martin without cause.

Reality

This is simply untrue. Ken-Matt is fully aware of the reasons for his dismissal. After a thorough search with a diverse search firm and representative search committee, we intentionally hired Ken-Matt for the artistic director position with a lot of hope and enthusiasm. Unfortunately, his egregious conduct turned those feelings sour, leading to the situation we find ourselves in now.

There were many incidents that contributed to his dismissal, two of which we will highlight here. The first was his failure to create any show budgets and secure any theatrical agreements for an upcoming season. The second example was his attempt to leverage the theater’s dire need for an executive director for personal gain. Amid Victory Gardens’ outstanding offer to an executive director candidate, Ken-Matt and the candidate jointly hired a lawyer in an attempt to redraft their contracts in a way that both contracts would be tied together and force Victory Gardens to offer them financial incentives that were clearly detrimental to the organization. While we will not expand further on additional reasons for his dismissal here, we provided Ken-Matt’s lawyer with the many reasons behind the decision.

Misconception
Victory Gardens Theater did not communicate with staff.

Reality
Part of the Victory Gardens mission calls for “dialogue towards meaningful civic change” and “an inclusive theater experience that belongs to everyone.” We believe dialogue must happen between the staff, artists, and board, but that dialogue must be productive.

We listened to our artists and staff and involved them in the search process for an artistic director and executive director. We also made offers to the recommended candidates for each position, at the behest of the search committee. Despite including artists and staff in these important, critical decisions, Victory Gardens board and certain leadership members were alienated by staff due to constant disruptions at board meetings and consistent attacks launched at board members, which, in some cases, suggested that the board members’ genders, sexual identities, and religious beliefs were to blame for decisions artists and staff disagreed with.

Misconception
Victory Gardens Theater Board of Directors is racist and is not committed to its mission.

Reality

Since Victory Gardens Theater was founded nearly 50 years ago, it has been a leader in the industry for its progressive, consistent diversity and inclusion practices. In 1979, Latino Chicago Theatre Company – the first professional Latino theater – was founded at Victory Gardens, and in the last ten years, more than 85% of our plays have featured BIPOC directors, playwrights, or actors. There is a long-standing, consistent history of Victory Gardens Theater carrying through its mission to deliver new theater work that reflects the diverse stories of our world and contributes to the vitality of American theater.

Additionally, Victory Gardens has employed a member of the BIPOC community as its artistic director well before other theaters began to join the equity movement. We also worked with our artistic director to launch the Director Inclusion initiative, and in 2017, our artistic director and the board created the “Your World On Stage” tagline to signify Victory Gardens’ commitment to present stories that reflect Chicago’s rich diversity and unique cultures.

Our hiring practices have continued this commitment, as more than 40% of our staff were members of the BIPOC community and our board of directors reflects this commitment, too. Our board of directors is about 55% female and more than 40% consists of members of the BIPOC community.

Furthermore, the Victory Gardens Board has invested thousands of hours and millions of dollars in dedication to the theater’s mission. Even throughout the recent challenges of the pandemic and leadership transition, the board continues to demonstrate its dedication and commitment to the theater.

Misconception
Victory Gardens Theater has let the Biograph Theater fall into disarray, including structural and plumbing issues.

Reality
Again, this is not true. The theater is in great condition, and while we have to address typical maintenance issues with the Biograph (like any other building), there are no notable issues with the theater. In Reality, the Biograph has passed several recent inspections.

Misconception
Victory Gardens Theater purchased new real estate when it is financially unstable.

Reality
This is incorrect. The real estate transaction in question was in motion 18 months before the deal went through and was part of a long-term plan to reduce expenses, increase pay equity for staff, and provide opportunities for earned revenue. The deal was essentially a swap with the building next door to consolidate our operations into one building. A consolidated physical footprint helps reduce expenses and provides more flexibility in how we can use the space in the future. Furthermore, the pros and cons of the deal were thoroughly researched and discussed, the details were reviewed by professionals, and senior leadership were directly involved in providing their thoughts and guidance about the details. The Victory Gardens Theater Board of Directors would not have pursued or followed through with this transaction if it would not benefit the theater.

Misconception
Victory Gardens Theater is no longer true to its mission.

Reality
Victory Gardens Theater did not change its mission; only the tactics we’ll use to accomplish this mission. Victory Gardens has and always will be committed to nurturing and producing relevant, new theater work that reflects the diverse stories of our world and contributes to the vitality of American Theater.

Victory Gardens Theater faced issues no theater should have to address, and as a board, we were faced with the difficult reality that, to serve our mission, we needed to transition operations. While we are still working through the details regarding our future, currently, our focus to support our mission is on two areas moving forward:

  1. Inspiring new plays and playwrights to nurture the diverse stories of our world: We are identifying new ways to support emerging playwrights, with a focus on playwrights of color, as well as to increase the exposure to new plays. This may include direct support via grant programs or collaborative efforts with other organizations.
  2. Maintaining the legacy of the Biograph Theater to contribute to the vitality of American theater: We are exploring options to subsidize other theater companies to use the Biograph Theater for their productions. We are also considering allowing some private rentals to offset the costs inherent in operating a theater.

We hope this provides more context into what transpired over the past few years at Victory Gardens Theater and addresses some of the misinformation. It’s our hope that we can move forward with a shared vision of having a vibrant and inclusive theater community for all.

Sincerely,

The Victory Gardens Theater Board of Directors