A new era for the Abbey Theatre in Dublin is expected to begin today when the shareholding body that owns it meets to consider voting itself out of existence, writes Chris Dooley.
The historic decision to do so is expected to be taken at an extraordinary general meeting of the theatre's advisory council, which begins at the Abbey at 11am.
The 21-member council is made up of shareholders of the National Theatre Society, which will cease to exist if a new corporate structure for the Abbey is approved.
The reform proposals have the support of Minister for Arts John O'Donoghue, the Arts Council and the Abbey Theatre's board.
Mr O'Donoghue, who is an ex-officio member of the council, will be represented at today's meeting by a senior official of the Department of Arts, Sport and Tourism.
A spokesman for the Minister said he would be keeping in touch with developments at the meeting.
If approved, the proposed reform will see the National Theatre Society replaced, after more than a century in existence, by the Abbey Theatre Ltd, a company limited by guarantee.
The Arts Council has warned it will not continue to fund the Abbey unless the new structure is put in place.
The proposed changes are a response to the financial and managerial crisis that has engulfed the Abbey since it emerged last May that the company's losses last year, at €1.85 million, were twice the reported level. Last month, a report by consultants KPMG identified serious accounting errors and poor financial controls at the theatre.
It placed the ultimate blame on the Abbey's convoluted governance and recommended that the theatre's board should in future be chosen on the basis of a defined set of skills.
The new plan aims to achieve this goal, while at the same time guaranteeing the Abbey's future independence.
At present, the Abbey's board consists of two Government nominees, four nominees of the National Theatre Society's shareholders, one staff representative, one actor and one playwright.
Under the proposed new arrangement, the Minister for Arts would nominate the chair and two members of the nine-person board. The other six members would be appointed by a selection committee made up of the Abbey chair, the chair of the Arts Council (or a member of the council appointed by the chair) and an "independent person of standing in the arts sector, nominated by the Minister for Arts".