One of the founders of a celebrated nonprofit theater in Virginia stepped down from his position on Wednesday after being accused on social media of sexual misconduct.
Signature Theater, located in Arlington, Va., just outside Washington, said that its artistic director, Eric Schaeffer, had retired after three decades with the organization.
The theater offered no initial explanation for the leadership change, but it came just three days after a veteran Washington-area actor who had appeared in work at the Signature, Thomas Keegan, said on Twitter that Schaeffer had grabbed his genitals at an awards ceremony in 2018. The actor Joe Carlson made a similar accusation on Facebook, saying that Schaeffer had similarly groped him at a theater benefit in 2016.
In a statement, the theater said it had investigated both allegations in 2018 and deemed them “unfounded and likely coordinated.”
“Over the past few days, there have been other allegations which have appeared as posts on social media,” the theater added. “To date, Signature has received no formal complaints, but would handle them according to the theater’s comprehensive policies which could include an independent investigation.”
Keegan said on Twitter Wednesday that he welcomed Schaeffer’s resignation, and called for the removal of the theater’s board, which he accused of complicity. Sarah Valente, a member of Signature’s board of directors, defended the board’s handling of the initial accusation, saying, “I do not believe that we ignored anything. A thorough investigation was done, we trusted the investigator who came highly recommended, we accepted her findings and moved on.”
Valente said that Schaeffer had decided to leave of his own volition, and that the board had accepted his decision. Schaeffer did not respond to a request for comment about the allegations, and in a statement issued by the theater, he did not refer to the circumstances of his departure. “After thirty years, with the world feeling upside down, I am retiring as Co-Founder/Artistic Director,” he said.
“I hope that the next generation of leaders can weather the many storms our profession faces,” he added. “To do so, it needs to pull together, dedicate itself to the work, and avoid the toxic polarization that damages not just the institutions, but the work itself, the art.”
Founded in 1989 by Schaeffer and Donna Migliaccio, Signature initially staged its work in a middle school auditorium. It then spent years in a former auto garage before finishing construction on a $16 million, two-theater facility in 2007.
Under Schaeffer’s leadership, the theater championed musicals by Stephen Sondheim and by John Kander and Fred Ebb, and was honored with the Tony Award for regional theater in 2009. Schaeffer oversaw an acclaimed series of Sondheim musical revivals at the Kennedy Center in 2001-02. And he directed five productions on Broadway, including “Gigi,” a 2011 revival of “Follies,” and “Million Dollar Quartet.”
Schaeffer’s rapid resignation in response to an accusation on social media comes at a time when many theater artists have been publicly voicing allegations of misconduct in their workplace. At first, most of the statements concerned racism, but there have also been renewed efforts to seek accountability for sexual misconduct.
Keegan said he was prompted to make his allegation public by reading the “commitment to social justice” that Signature published in response to the unrest over racial injustice that followed the police killing of George Floyd, among others.
Source: Theater - nytimes.com
