St. George Musical Theater is receiving backlash for a long-term employee’s termination and the name change of a new building.
Bruce Bennett, who has been the president of the theater and has been involved with the organization for 29 years, was recently terminated.
St. George Musical Theater has also getting community backlash about their new building, which will be named Dimon Legacy Theater, after Dimon McFerson, who was a donor to the company and just recently stepped down as chairman of the theater’s board.
The termination
Bennett was informed by three board members that he was terminated from St. George Musical Theater Jan. 21. Bennett was made executive and artistic director in 2011 and has held those positions up until now.
In an interview with Fox 13, Bennett said, “I am devastated not only by being separated from St. George Musical Theater, where I’ve poured out so many years, but I’m also devastated that St. George Musical Theater is out there in the middle of this controversy when we really should be in a state of celebration.”
A few days after the termination, the community figured out what had happened through social media. On Jan. 26, St. George Musical Theater emailed a note to community members.
“The decision to part ways was not made lightly,” the email said. “It followed many attempts over time to resolve internal challenges and opposition, and ultimately was made as a necessary personnel decision. Out of respect for all individuals involved, we are unable to discuss specific details, as this situation remains an internal human resources matter. What we can share with certainty is that the decision was difficult, thoughtful, and made with the long-term health of the organization in mind.”
On Jan. 24, before St. George Musical Theater put out its response, around 60 people joined to rally across where the new theater is being constructed, about the firing and name change of the new building.
A comment left on KUTV’s story about the situation.
The name change
In addition to the termination, there has also been community backlash against the new theater being named Dimon Legacy Theater.
In St. George Musical Theater’s note to the community, they clarified the change.
“Please be assured that St. George Musical Theater is not going away,” the note said. “Our name, mission, legacy, and the heart of SGMT remain firmly intact. The change pertains only to how we distinguish between buildings, not to who we are as an organization.”
The note went on to say that just the new building that’s being built on Main Street will have the name Dimon Legacy Theater.
Emily McBride, an activist here in southern Utah, posted a call to action video for the community.
“If you care about art, if you care about community, if you’re anticapitalist, if you’re anti whatever is going on here, I need you to get loud,” McBride said.
In an interview with Fox 13, Nicole Hadley, who’s a choreographer for the theater, shares her frustration with the name change.
“It’s not just about the name,” Hadley said. “We want to keep the spirit and the purpose and the value and the vision of SGMT the same. And that vision was established by Bruce Bennett.”
