African Continuum Loses New Artistic Director

Ambush Quits Before Starting Full Time; Struggling Troupe Cancels Its Fall-Winter Season

The financially troubled African Continuum Theatre Company has lost its new artistic director, Benny Sato Ambush, before he was to begin the job full time.

Ambush stepped down as acting artistic director Oct. 30 but did not speak of his decision until after the board announced it last week. With the company suffering from what its chairman called a "cash flow crunch," the board also had recently decided to postpone its fall and winter shows and present a shortened spring season.

"The theater had announced a season it couldn't afford to launch without having a significant influx of new cash beyond the grant money it was expecting for the year," Ambush told Backstage, saying that it was he who called the problem to the board's attention. "That grant money was coming in too late. . . . It was a cash flow crisis, you bet."

Ambush, who said his relationship with African Continuum was always amicable, praised the board for doing "some really good and hard work" in coming to an understanding of the financial troubles.

He said he became aware of the problem last summer, when he began working part time for the company while still doing freelance directing gigs. If he had known about the finances before signing on with African Continuum, he said, "I would have stayed clear of the job."

He presented a proposal for "a different way of doing business" that he felt could solve the nonprofit company's financial woes, but the board did not act on it, Ambush said.

Board Chairman Rubie G. Coles said the proposal remains among alternatives under consideration. The board will announce "something definitive" about African Continuum's path by the end of the month, she said.

Although the board is disappointed about Ambush's resignation, Coles said, it remains convinced it can attract other qualified candidates.

"Our number one priority is to make sure that we are managing our finances well," Coles continued. "I think that we will survive this and that we are an important piece of the theater community here, and I still think it will be an attractive place for those artists in black theater."

"Losing Benny is a setback, because everybody was really excited about having him come to town," said African Continuum's original artistic director, Jennifer L. Nelson, who stepped down in August after 11 years. But, she added, "whether or not he's here is I don't think going to determine whether the company survives."

Nelson thinks the board's cancellation of the fall season was precipitous. The company weathered similar financial problems on her watch, she said, but it would cut budgets and keep producing -- though it sometimes involved her not taking a salary. "This is not an unusual situation, but for the people on the board who are essentially businesspeople . . . I think, frankly, they kind of panicked," she said.

"I have to be optimistic about it," Nelson added. "If the community wants this organization to survive, if we're really serving a valuable function in the community, then there's a way out of it."