In the midst of another artistically successful season, with box office figures just about matching expectation, the Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre has seen the recent mass defection of the five-person executive committee and another half-dozen members of the board of directors.

At issue have been strained relations between the board and PICT's founder and artistic director, Andrew Paul, and how to deal with an accumulated deficit of about $100,000 for an organization that has a yearly budget of about $1 million.

Relations became so strained that Superior Court Judge Joseph Del Sole came in to mediate.

The deficit began in 2005, when the construction on Schenley Plaza depressed attendance at PICT's two theaters in the University of Pittsburgh's Stephen Foster Memorial. Paul, determined to keep quality high, wanted to spend the way out of the deficit while the executive committee wanted cuts in the use of Equity and out-of-town actors.

Among those who have resigned are the board president of the past year, Francine Abraham, and her immediate predecessor and current vice president, Anne Mullin Burnham. Replacing them as president and vice president, respectively, are longtime board members E. Bruce Hill and Michael Ramsay.

Jameson Gilpatrick, the general manager of less than a year, also left to take a job at Long Wharf Theatre in Connecticut. When hired last summer, he was hailed by Paul, who said, "we hope to have him here for many, many fruitful years." But Paul came to see Gilpatrick as undermining his authority.

"Andrew wanted to take the theater in a different direction with a smaller board of his artist friends," Abraham said. She praised Paul's artistic work: "I wouldn't have been able to get these people on the board without the quality of PICT's shows." She had increased the number of business people on the board as PICT grew, but Paul "doesn't want to report to the board," she said.

She denied there was a mass resignation, just a series of individual decisions. "We all still love the theater company," she said.

"I wish Andrew success," said David Figgins, another who stepped down from the board, "but obviously if you don't see the thing the way he sees it, he has to get people in who do." Paul's "explosiveness" was hard on staff and board members, Figgins added.

Among those who have filled the new board vacancies is philanthropist Richard E. Rauh, who is underwriting this summer's cycle of the complete plays of John Millington Synge. Long-time supporter Philip Chosky has just made a significant contribution to operating expenses.

While admitting that Paul could have been more diplomatic, Ramsay says the board tried to cut artistic expenses in unacceptable ways after commitments for this season had already been made.

Ramsay called the tempest "a marked personality clash" between Paul and the executive committee: "they espoused a corporate model, whereas the new board is committed to a leaner, founder-driven, boutique theatre focused on art."

"I think it's actually for the better," he said, "because we now have people more understanding of the art." To deal with the deficit, he said next year's production budget would be reduced from $600,000 to $500,000.

Co-founder and former managing director Stephanie Riso has returned to serve PICT as a part-time administrative consultant for the remainder of this year.

Paul was in rehearsal and Gilpatrick was driving to Connecticut; neither could be reached for this story.