Cole's two-year tenure at the company was a contentious one. Support for Cole was divided among ATC's board, and the theatre's 2013 fiscal year ended June 30 with a $1 million deficit. The deficit, according to the Star, was the result of over-ambitious budgeting and disappointing fundraising.

"We'll have new leadership; we won't have fractions of the board in this camp or that camp," Joanie Flatt, a member of the board, said to the Star. "This gives us an opportunity to do what we need to do — focus on making ATC the most wonderful, professional theater in the state, if not the region."

The theatre is facing more changes, as David Ira Goldstein, the company's artistic director of 22 years, will step down in December. In accepting his resignation, the board has awarded Goldstein, the fourth artistic director in ATC's 46-year history, the title of artistic director emeritus.

Goldstein directed more than 40 performances at the ATC, and some of his accomplishments include launching the National Latino Playwriting and the Arizona Playwriting awards competition in hopes of diversifying the audience and establishing co-productions that lessened production costs and promoted ATC's national reputation.

ATC was founded in Tucson in 1967 and expanded to Phoenix in 1978. More information can be found by visiting arizonatheatre.org.