Magic Circle Theatre founders axed

Drama off of the stage engulfed Roseville's venerable Magic Circle Theatre this week after the troupe's founders said they were given the boot.Bob Gerould, who founded Roseville's Magic Circle Theatre in 1987 with wife Rosemarie, said he, his wife and partner Rick Daniels were effectively fired on Saturday from their management position by the community theater group's board.The action came in an emergency meeting on Saturday in which board members served the longtime theater leaders with a letter informing them Magic Circle's contract with their company, LMC Theatrical Management, would not be renewed, causing a heated walkout by the Geroulds, he said."We spent yesterday evening and this morning cleaning out our offices," Robert Gerould said Monday. "We are now not employed."Brent Null, Magic Circle's board president, disputed Gerould's characterization of events.He said the decision not to renew the managers' contract was part of an effort to restructure theater operations, but that the board wants the founders to remain part of the nonprofit Magic Circle. He said the board intended to offer a new contract with different responsibilities, but that the Geroulds left before they could pitch it at them. He added Daniels has accepted a new contract with the board."With the current arrangement of how the contract was written, it makes it difficult for us to make the changes we need to do," Null said. "We still want them to come back to the bargaining table with us."Null added the board did not intend to disrespect the founders: "They've built a legacy and we need to honor and respect that legacy," he said.The changes come as the theater deals with its worst fiscal challenges ever.Null said the theater has been struggling financially in recent months and was losing up to $10,000 a month, according to a recent audit; the theater's treasurer determined it would be out of business within the year.That raised the eyebrows of the Irvine Foundation, the nonprofit philanthropic organization that provided a $200,000 grant to the group in 2007, he said. "We don't want to cut programming, so we need to look at operations what things internally we need to tighten up," Null said, adding that the management contract cost about $150,000 annually. "To us, it's more a cost-cutting move," he said.But the move has irked some members of the theater community.Kris Hunt, the theater's longtime marketing manager, resigned in protest following the news. She's speaking out against the board action."I support Magic Circle Theatre but I do not support the actions of this board," she said by phone Monday. "A lot of people are shocked. A lot of what Brent has said has been spin. It is not OK."Robert Gerould said a plan had been in place to shore up the theater's finances. He said he doesn't understand why board members would fire him, since the theater has experienced budget problems before, and characterized the proposed contract as offering a "small stipend.""They undoubtedly could have handled this a whole lot better by consulting with us, working out a plan with us, but they chose instead to have a meeting in secret and advise all the employees they were planning to fire us," he said."We're still kind of in shock," Gerould said. "I think the theater community is still in shock."Null said the board was close to hiring consultants to revamp organizational management, board development, financial planning and volunteer management.He said that theater operations would not be affected.Updated 10:40 a.m. Tuesday