Another leader is leaving the Minnesota Fringe Festival weeks after its executive director resigned and just as it battles a lawsuit.
On Thursday, associate director Ann B. Erickson (pictured left) will say goodbye to the fringe, where has worked for six seasons, the last four consecutively.
Her abrupt departure comes weeks after executive director Jeff D. Larson announced that he was stepping down as head of what may be the state's largest performing arts festivals.
Larson had been with the organization since 1999, when he worked as a technician, before eventually rising to take the reins in 2013.
Both departures come as the festival is being sued. Controversial Arizona-based actor Sean Neely (pictured right, in performance for another show) filed suit against the fringe after his pedophilia-themed show, "Having Sex with Children in My Brain," won a slot in the unjuried festival, but then was later rejected.
A hearing was held on that suit in September. Calls to the fringe board chair and to Neely's lawyer were not returned Wednesday.
Erickson said that she was leaving for personal reasons.
"It's bittersweet for me but I've been thinking about my next step for a little while now," said Erickson.
