AMERICAN THEATRE: Weeks after Cleveland Play House (CPH) announced it was canceling the February world premiere of I’m Back Now: Returning to Cleveland, playwright Charly Evon Simpson issued a statement on Feb. 8 saying that she in fact had pulled the rights to her play, in tandem with director Stori Ayers, who resigned in protest over the way the theatre handled a case of sexual assault. In a statement on Twitter, Simpson wrote, “I said NO to having my play done at Cleveland Play House…I said NO to my play being the site of and excuse for further harm. I said YES to prioritizing the health, well-being, and safety of the I’m Back Now company.”
4 comments:
I heard about this incident recently in my anti-racist and equitable practices in theatre class. I was heartbroken to hear that such a thing could happen in a theatre company and enraged at how it was handled. The blatant disrespect and disregard for the company’s safety as well as the way in which they handled the entire situation and put blame on the company and director is upsetting and wrong. I am glad that there the director is telling their story so that everyone knows what really happened and how Cleveland Play House is known to have a lack of respect for those in their productions. I hope that the theatre industry can learn from this and create a safer working environment for everyone in the industry and make promoting one’s health in a production easy and helpful rather than traumatic. I hope that the Cleveland Play House can learn from this experience and actually put into a place a system that promotes the health, wellbeing, and safety of their staff.
I wonder what role of the management team would have played in this situation. I think this article was confusing to read at first because I believe it is a fair assumption that the victim may want privacy in such a situation, and I am not sure who might be involved in the “leadership team”. I wonder in this case, if management is being blamed for this as well, and if they are if that is fair. I definitely understand the power dynamics at play here, as listed by the article, but I wonder why the director needed to know, and why, if the actor wanted the director to know, the actor did not just tell them themselves. In some way, it seems that the article is casting the Playhouse in a sympathetic light because the article is so confusing. I think they are trying to present themselves in natural light, but many parts of the performers and directors' reactions are confusing, making it hard to believe the source of the article itself.
It’s so terrible that things like this still happen today. It feels like no matter how much we do to stop sexual harassment or assault, it still happens. At least in this case, the director and even the playwright handled it exceptionally well given the circumstances, in my opinion. It would’ve been easy for Stori Ayers to continue with the production while dealing with the assault case, but she decided to back out entirely. Likewise, Charly Simpson could’ve just condemned the production or playhouse, but she backed out entirely by pulling the rights. I think that this shows an incredible amount of genuine care from both the director and playwright. The most upsetting part is that there are probably dozens of unfortunate events like this every day that go undetected or unspoken. I hope that our industry can find a way to address this problem – I think we’re already headed in the right direction.
Once again it is not surprising but still disheartening to hear how the theater industry promotes performative activism but these internal changes are not taking place and they continue to harm creators whether that be artists or actors playwrights designers or whoever.
The article did make it clear that the actor who was assaulted wanted the director to know and that it is not okay that the director was not informed. However, that should not be standard procedure or informing the director should not be standard procedure. Based on people I've worked with, you never know how somebody will react in that situation and whether they're “support" will actually be beneficial or be more harmful.
I'm really glad to hear the playwright, Charly Evon Simpson, and the director, Stori Ayers, pulled the production and used social media to explain the situation. This is not a scenario that usually would have gotten as much press as it did but because these two went to social media and were relentless, it got the attention it deserved.
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