Brouhaha Over ‘Born Yesterday’

Stephen Rothman, has resigned as producing co-director of the Pasadena Playhouse, after being replaced as director of the revival of “Born Yesterday.” The resignation followed a series of reported backstage battles at the theater.

Allen Garfield, who joined the production last week, also left it Tuesday night after a rehearsal. His predecessor, Ron Leibman, left the show May 27. The play is scheduled to open June 26, with Rebecca De Mornay in the role Judy Holliday made famous. Previews are set to begin next Thursday.

The latest actor hired to play Harry Brock in the Garson Kanin play is David Schramm, who recently played the role in Philadelphia, said Susan Dietz, producing co-director of the Playhouse. Hired to replace Rothman is Don Amendolia, she said. Amendolia, who staged Dietz’s production of “Cloud Nine” at the Canon Theatre in 1983, was said to be in rehearsal and unavailable for comment.

Rothman, who secured the “Born Yesterday” rights from playwright Kanin, said his partnership with Dietz had been “deteriorating for the last five months.” The two had “stopped talking to each other,” Rothman said.

Dietz would not comment on her partnership with Rothman but said “the actors didn’t want to open” under Rothman. “It was best for the show” that he leave, she said.

“I have never been replaced in my career,” Rothman said. “Susan (Dietz) never once came into the rehearsal hall. She never saw one minute of rehearsal. There’s no way you take a director off a show without seeing his work.”

“I don’t believe a producer goes into rehearsals,” said Dietz, who said she attended a reading of the play. “It’s not appropriate. I spoke to stage managers.”