Arts Center East Ends 10-Year Relationship With Theater Group

VERNON, CT — Arts Center East has cut ties with an area theater group.

The Dionysus Theatre Company had been performing at Arts Center East for 10 years, but in a terse letter sent recently and signed by the center's president, Ginny Emerson, the group was essentially told to move out.

"On behalf of the Arts Center East, I want to thank you for Dionysus Theater Company's years of involvement with Arts Center East," the letter began.

It continued, "Regrettably, I also need to inform you of the Arts Center East's Board of Directors' decision discontinue to offer performance and storage space to Dionysus Theater Company."

Dionysus Theater Company tech director and business partner Phil Godeck said the group was shocked.

"They have given us no reason why and we just want to know what the issue is," he said. "We are all devastated by this news and just can't come to grips as to what caused this to happen."

A message sent by Patch to Arts Center East Monday has gone unreturned. Some Dionysus members cited "concerns" among Arts Center East board members, but insist they were never addressed.

Dionysus bills itself as, "a not-for-profit theatre company whose goal is to inspire our community and ourselves through artistic expression while working to understand and explore the human condition."

The letter states that the theater group's alarm code has been deactivated, but it also insists that the group clean out all its "belongings" by Aug. 1 and materials from its most recent production by June 1.

Godeck said Dionysus has been in discussions with the Little Theater of Manchester and the Windsor Jesters to use facilities at least on a temporary basis. A gala event has been in the works to celebrate a decade of productions, he said.

"It's upsetting because we had passed out information on the gala across Connecticut and had a good response," Godeck said. "Now, we're being told to move our stuff out."