JACKSON, Miss. (WJTV) – The shutdown of Jackson’s Thalia Mara Hall has impacted thousands of people.
The Mississippi Symphony Orchestra has lost their home, as well as Ballet Mississippi and Ballet Magnificat. Broadway shows and other productions, such as Kevin Hart, have been canceled.
On June 5, 2023, Angie Ladner was appointed by Jackson Mayor Chokwe A. Lumumba as director of Thalia Mara Hall. With more than 20 years of entertainment and production experience behind her, Ladner said it didn’t take her long to see how and why the venue was losing money.
“We worked and got chewed out every day by promoters, agents, people coming in, the talent, because there was no way for them to run credit cards. There was no way for them to pay for tickets. We had no phones. We couldn’t answer a phone to book a show. We had nothing. So, at this time, my cell phone, my personal cell phone went out to the whole nation,” she said. “That’s when I started to learn a lot of things because everything funneled through me at this point.”
Ladner said she was never given access to her operating budget. The city uses Munis software for the budget and purchase orders to pay for things, as well as to see how much power bills are.
“I mean you know, almost like under the table kind of there to me there were a lot of back door deals. And so, I started bringing that up first, and I brought it to the IBC to say that we were backstage one day working and Mona Nichols from the IBC came and handed a $12,000 check for whatever they owed,” said Ladner. “That’s when we first started to go, and how do I know where that $12,000 goes if I don’t have access to see it? And that’s when I started, you know, okay, I need to take a step back and look at this a little bit.”
At this point, Ladner said she was just hoping to get the Kevin Hart show on.
“Let’s just make it through Kevin Hart, which was at the end of May, supposed to be, and then we’re going to close June and July. We’re going to get these things fixed. And Kevin Hart rolled around, no air conditioner, talked to his agent. It was a very big deal,” she said. “And they moved it to September. We moved the date to September, thinking that, surely by then we’ll have the air conditioner, and all the things fixed that were happening at the time. But September rolled around and that never happened either. So, we cancelled.”
Ladner said she was told there would be pushback from the top.
“I mean, even right now they’re saying it’s going to be open January 18. If you talk to the contractor on site right now, they will laugh at you. There’s no just out of the blue, just January 18. And you have to remember, there’s still the elevator’s broken, the fountain’s not fixed, there’s feces coming up out of the sinks in the bathrooms,” she said.
Ladner resigned on November 15 before she was terminated from her position as manager for Thalia Mara Hall. The City of Jackson cited the reason as taking three days off without approval.
WJTV 12 News reached out to the City of Jackson about Ladner’s allegations. Melissa F. Payne, communications manager for the city, said due to this being a personnel matter, the city would not comment on the allegations.
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