Cape Playhouse Hires Producer Erik Orton As Guest Artistic Director After Mark Cuddy Resigns

America's oldest summer stock theatre, The Cape Playhouse, established in 1927, has hired Broadway producer and manager Erik Orton as its Guest Artistic Director, overseeing the company's 2016 summer season after the resignation of producer Mark Cuddy, who had been the Cape Cod Center for the Arts' first CEO.

The Cape Cod Times reports that a one-page statement soon to be released by Cuddy states, "Since my appointment in November 2013, I have struggled to work for a board of trustees that was, in my opinion, entrenched in a culture of secrecy, suspicion and power.... Conflicts ensued (and) manipulation and misinformation seemed to occur behind my back. While my resignation might seem an extreme action over something that doesn't directly affect our shows on stage, my effectiveness to lead the institution was compromised to a point where I felt I couldn't perform at a high level."

Cuddy, who says he's been "challenged all along the way" by board members for two years, tendered his resignation in late October, saying he would leave January 1st if changes in governance policies weren't enacted. The board accepted the resignation December 15th.

The critical issue that led to his decision to resign involved land use on the arts campus, which houses the playhouse, Cape Cinema and the Cape Cod Museum of Art. In early October, Cuddy says, then-president Richard B. Hawes Jr. developed a new legal arrangement for land use there and presented it to him without warning, without including board committees, and within days of asking the board to approve it.

"I don't want people to get the wrong impression, that I was walking away because I wanted to walk away. That's not the case. I don't want to hurt the playhouse. I just want that board to enact proper governance policies for the future health and stability of that playhouse and the cinema."

"The Cape Playhouse does not discuss personnel matters; no further comments will be made," reads a statement from the playhouse. They do confirm Cuddy's resignation and state that with Orton taking over for 2016, a national search for a permanent artistic director is under way.

"I'm incredibly enthusiastic and honored to have this opportunity to be part of the artistic scene at the Cape Playhouse," says Orton, who becomes the sixth director or manager there since 2013.

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