Vanguard Team Plans to Break Up : Theater: Citing ‘irreconcilable differences,’ co-founder Kevin Aratari will leave the artistic director in charge of the storefront troupe.

Less than a year after it was launched, the small but ambitious Vanguard Theatre Ensemble has run into management problems that cast a cloud over its future.

Vanguard producer Kevin Aratari and artistic director Terry Gunkel, founders of the storefront troupe, have decided to break up their team effort due to “irreconcilable differences.” Aratari said Thursday the official announcement of his departure will be made next week.

“It’s not something I really wanted to do,” the 25-year-old producer said. “But we just can’t work together.”

Their differences had been “brewing slowly” over the past several months and had more to do with management styles than with artistic disagreements, Aratari said. “I delegate,” he noted. “Terry likes to have his hand in everything.”

Aratari said that Gunkel, 41, would add administration of the theater company to his duties. He said his contract with Gunkel stipulated that the theater could not remain open unless both of them ran it together. “But in order to keep it open, I volunteered to walk away (from the contract),” Aratari said.

Aratari said that by giving up his share in the theater he would lose about “$3,000 to $5,000” but that he would “also be released of (his) liability.”

Aratari added that running both the administrative and artistic aspects of the theater would be extremely difficult. “I’m not sure he understands how much work it takes just to run the business side of things,” he said.

Gunkel could not be reached for comment Thursday.

The Vanguard made its debut in March, 1992, with a revival of Michael Brady’s bittersweet comedy, “To Gillian on Her 37th Birthday.” The troupe has staged a six productions to date at its 68-seat venue, a converted commercial space in an industrial park.

Aratari said that attendance at the theater has averaged about 50% of capacity for its maiden season.

Oscar Wilde’s “The Importance of Being Earnest” is the Vanguard’s current offering. The next production, Peter Shaffer’s “Equus,” is scheduled for March.