New York theatre director blames stroke for ‘hurtful’ diversity comments
James Morgan’s colleague claimed the theatre veteran ‘yelled’ at him
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The artistic director of a New York theatre has blamed his stroke for “hurtful” comments about diversity that he made.
James Morgan, who has led the nonprofit York Theater Company since 1979, issued a letter on Monday (14 October), attributing his actions to a stroke he had in 2022.
“During a recent staff meeting, I responded to a colleague’s concerns about the diversity of our audiences in a way that was inappropriate and hurtful,” Morgan wrote in the letter. “The words came out – at a raised volume that has been one of the side effects of the stroke – differently than I intended them.”
Morgan has been suffering from aphasia, a language disorder that affects how you communicate. A person with aphasia may have trouble understanding, speaking, reading, or writing.
Last week, the company had announced that Morgan had “resigned from his duties, effective immediately”.
Jim Kierstead, the board’s president, said: “We will soon be announcing plans for a future filled with diversity, talent, and musical theatre in order to continue our long legacy of supporting artists of all backgrounds.”
Morgan’s departure follows the resignation of associate artistic director Gerry McIntyre, who said in his own resignation letter, shared on Facebook, that Morgan had “yelled” at him after he raised concerns about a lack of audience diversity during a virtual meeting.
He said he had “noticed that there were no people of colour or any youth demographic” at two shows he had seen on a single day at the York.
One of the shows McIntyre had gone to was a one-night production of a Noël Coward work. McIntyre claimed that Morgan, talking about that show, had said: “I want you to find anyone who would like this except this audience.”
McIntyre wrote: “I thought to myself, so people of colour don’t like or know Noël Coward? His comment immediately struck me as racist.”
He said the “tirade and venom” that followed was “horrible”.
Morgan said in his letter he is “heartsick” that the words he said reflected the opposite of his true feelings, explaining: “I’ve tried to make diversity a consideration in everything we do – our programming, our outreach, our hiring, our everything. Were we late coming to the table? Yes. Could we – should we – have been doing more? Always.”
Elaborating on how his stroke has affected him, he said: “I’ve also learned that my aphasia, an after-effect of the stroke, has caused hurt and misunderstandings among the staff. I should have realised that sooner. Whether because of ego or stubbornness – or maybe just cluelessness – I didn’t. And I apologise.”
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