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40 n e w h a v e n B I Z | S e p t e m b e r / O c t o b e r 2 0 1 9 | n e w h a v e n b i z . c o m A R T S & C U LT U R E With new artistic director and new direction, theater charts new course of 'radical inclusion' By Frank Rizzo Long Wharf 's Leap of Faith W ill the dramatically new direction planned for New Haven's Long Wharf eatre turn around its declining fortunes of the past few years and usher in a new era — and a new, more engaged audience? Or will it drive the theater deeper into debt and decline? When the announcement was made last November that Jacob G. Padrón would become Long Wharf 's new artistic director, it came as a surprise to many. Aer all, at 38 he was the youngest LWT artistic director since Arvin Brown who, just out of college, took over two years aer the theater was founded 54 years ago. Also Padrón, a graduate of the Yale School of Drama, wasn't a stage director but was a producer, having founded the Sol Project, an organi- zation that champions Latino/Latina playwrights and helps bring their works to theaters across the country. Perhaps most significantly, Pa- drón became the first Latino person to lead a major theater in Connecti- cut, especially one that has not been known for producing Latinx works (though the population of its host city is roughly evenly distributed among Latino, African-American and white residents). Padrón represents not a gradual, but a dramatic departure from the theater's recent focus, which begs the question: Will the established Long Wharf audience and — most critical to its bottom line — its funders embrace the new leader and his vision? "We want to be a theatre com- pany that is radically inclusive," says Padrón, "one that is artistically innovative and that is constantly thinking about meaningful con- nections where art and activism can live side by side. I think this is the future." Early indicators Long Wharf is betting the farm on it. It's too early to get any hard data. Aer all, Padrón took over full-time only on July 1 and the first season (2021-22) that will be entirely his own creation won't even be an- nounced until early next year. But early indications are prom- ising, at least from corporate, foundation and leading individual funders — which is good news for a theater that's experienced a rough few years. In January 2018, LWT fired its longtime artistic director Gordon Edelstein over allegations of inap- propriate physical and verbal behav- ior in the workplace. e past two years produced six-figure — and more — deficits for the company and ongoing debt (offset by a $14 million endowment that contributes $700,000 a year to LWT's $6 million operating budget). Its current lease of its Long Wharf Drive facility is also up in 2022, and no decision has yet been made by the theater's New Haven Food Terminal landlord regarding its renewal — or not. And most recently, LWT's managing director of 13 years, Joshua Borenstein, who had been handling the artistic director duties as well as his management ones since the Edelstein firing, departed Long Wharf last month for a variety of reasons, both personal and professional. at's a lot for a new artistic di- rector to absorb and move forward. But the new artistic/activism direction that Padrón plans to take the theater in is actually an old one, he says, going back to the commu- nity-centric, social-justice mission of the theater when it was born in 1965. "We were founded to tell the stories of New Haven to reflect the community and to engage in a life- long conversation with all who call New Haven home," he says — and that original mission is as relevant as ever to the present day. "What the American theater is right now," Padrón says, "is really is up grabs with cultural institutions asking themselves: What are we doing? How are we doing it? And are we really being of service to our community? e world is on fire and we have to use art to extinguish [the fire] and bring people together.

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