KITCHENER - The founder and artistic director of the Impact Theatre Festival publicly resigned Tuesday night because the sold-out performance of the first play had to be cancelled and rescheduled.

Majdi Bou-Matar stood at the podium during the opening ceremonies to publicly apologize and take full responsibility for the failure to meet the technical needs of the play "Fear(s)"-a production by Jalila Baccar and Fadhel Jaibi of the National Theatre of Tunisia.

Bou-Matar said the he approved a schedule for this year's festival that placed impossible demands on the tech teams from Impact and Tunisia.

"I will not be the artistic director of any future Impact Festivals," said Bou-Matar.

Technical teams from Tunisia and Impact were working Wednesday to solve the lighting issues so "Fear(s)" could be staged Wednesday night at the Conrad Centre.

Two performances of "Violence(s)," a second play from the National Theatre of Tunisia, was dropped from the program altogether. "Violence(s)" was scheduled for Wednesday and Thursday at the Conrad Centre.

A third play by a local company called "Suitcase," originally scheduled for 6 p.m. Thursday at the Conrad Centre, is to be staged in the Social After Dark in the Walper Hotel at 6 p.m.

The general approach to lighting for all the plays did not meet the technical needs of the National Theatre of Tunisia. Bou-Matar said the festival's schedule was a big mistake because it could only provide general lighting for the six show on the main stage at the Conrad Centre and another six in the Blair Room on the second floor of the centre.

"That backfired I think, and that's why I took full responsibility for not managing this issue well," said Bou-Matar.

Bou-Matar founded the festival, which was first staged in 2009 in downtown Kitchener. It has been held every other year since, attracting about 2,500 theatre goers and artists from across Canada and several other countries.

"When the cancellation of the show was announced, and I was given the word, I apologized for failing the artists and the audience and the teams that work for me," said Bou-Matar.

This year's festival faced a series of challenges almost from the beginning. A shortage of venues was addressed by booking more shows into the Conrad Centre. After the provincial government cut funding, organizers raised $40,000, which included a crowdfunding campaign, and dropped some plays from the program.

As late as Sunday, with the arrival of the delegation from the National Theatre of Tunisia, it look like everything was in place. This year's festival featured a partnership with them.

Bou-Matar said the technical challenges with "Fear(s)" will not affect the rest of the festival.

"We have 16 other productions that are going really well, and we are so excited," said Bou-Matar. "The festival is going on as planned with the exception of those changes."

tpender@therecord.com

Twitter: @PenderRecord

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