Congo Square Theatre Ensemble says board conflict, financial questions led to the collapse of historic company — OnStage Blog, Theater News

Founded in 1999, Congo Square became one of Chicago’s most respected Black theatre organizations. But according to the Ensemble, it was never built to operate like a traditional nonprofit where artists make art while boards govern from a distance. Congo Square was designed as an Ensemble-based institution, with artists serving as performers, directors, producers, teachers, and creative leaders who helped shape the company’s identity and artistic leadership.

According to the letter, that structure began to fracture in October 2024, when the company’s artistic director stepped down under what members described as “significant pressure” and “hostility” from board chair Dawn Francis Reese. The Ensemble says it called for the artistic director’s reinstatement, but the board declined.

A town hall on Oct. 15, 2024, only deepened the rift. The Ensemble alleges Reese declined to answer members’ questions, and says it followed the meeting by requesting her removal as board chair. That request was also denied.

From there, the conflict shifted from disagreement to paralysis. The Ensemble says it requested access to governing documents and repeatedly asked for a neutral mediator. According to the letter, those requests were met with silence. In response, the Ensemble says it paused production, arguing that because members were responsible for curating each season, the company could not ethically or practically move forward until the conflict was resolved.

But instead of mediation, the Ensemble says the board pushed ahead. The letter alleges that the board hired an interim executive director, began interviewing its own artistic director candidates, and reached out to a former Ensemble member about returning under the new structure.

In November 2024, the Ensemble says the board’s attorney, Brandon Fontenot Johnson, also attempted to conduct an internal review through questionnaires and interviews. After consulting legal counsel, the Ensemble says it instead requested a direct meeting with the full board, without the board chair, interim executive director, or board attorney present, along with a neutral mediator. It says those requests went nowhere, and members declined to participate in the review.

As the standoff continued, the matter became public and legal. The Ensemble says it spoke with the Chicago Tribune and Chicago Sun-Times in December 2024, making clear that production would remain paused until a mediated conversation took place. The dispute later moved into litigation.

The letter also raises serious financial questions. The Ensemble says Congo Square was not struggling at the time of the conflict and held approximately $800,000 in funds. It further alleges that through litigation, members learned that $240,000 had been given to Victory Gardens Theater but had been wrongfully taken from Congo Square Ensemble. That is a significant claim, and one that would require independent reporting beyond the letter itself.

The Ensemble also accuses the board of trying to continue the company while stripping away the model that defined it. According to the letter, the board removed the word “Ensemble” from the mission statement, took down the company’s website and social media platforms, disabled Ensemble email accounts, and dismissed key staff, including program director Ron Conner.

By April 2025, according to the letter, actor Harry Lennix had resigned from the board, with other members apparently stepping away in the weeks that followed. By July 2025, Congo Square Theatre Company was dissolved by its remaining board members without, the Ensemble says, any public acknowledgment of the theatre’s 25-year legacy.

But the Ensemble itself did not disappear. The letter says members incorporated Congo Square Theatre Ensemble, NFP, in June 2025 so the artists behind the original company could continue creating work together in Chicago.

And that is really the story here. Not just the collapse of a theatre company, but the way bureaucracy can suffocate one. When governance stops serving the art and starts overpowering it, process becomes a weapon. Silence becomes strategy. Control gets mistaken for leadership.

According to the Ensemble, Congo Square did not fall apart because the artists failed it. It fell apart because bureaucracy did what bureaucracy too often does in theatre: it crushed the very thing it was supposed to protect.