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Thursday, April 09, 2026
Chicago Theaters Cut Ties With Jeff Awards After Director Accused Of Abuse Honored
blockclubchicago.org: More than a dozen Chicago theaters are cutting ties with a prestigious group that has recognized local productions with recommendations and awards since the 1960s, after it honored an artistic director accused of emotionally abusing and harassing an actor during rehearsals years ago.
1 comment:
Emma L
said...
I appreciate theaters that actually care about their community and take accusations of abuse seriously. The fact that his girlfriend compared his situation of being accused of abuse to a relative that had been persecuted in Nazi Germany honestly sickens me because those two things are not comparable. Even if what the Jeff awards said in their statements is true and the nominations/finalized awards happened before the accusations happened, they should have immediately done some investigating or rethinking about the award when those accusations came up. In undergrad I was production manager of a student theater group. One year we had picked a director for a show that none of us knew but we were excited to work with after interviewing him. A few days later after offering him the role of director, I received a dm from a friend saying that one of their friends was sexually assaulted by him so we immediately halted prep for the show and started looking into the accusation. We ended up rescinding the offer of director to him which meant we were not able to do the show. That sucked but we cared more about the wellbeing of our community than doing the show.
1 comment:
I appreciate theaters that actually care about their community and take accusations of abuse seriously. The fact that his girlfriend compared his situation of being accused of abuse to a relative that had been persecuted in Nazi Germany honestly sickens me because those two things are not comparable. Even if what the Jeff awards said in their statements is true and the nominations/finalized awards happened before the accusations happened, they should have immediately done some investigating or rethinking about the award when those accusations came up. In undergrad I was production manager of a student theater group. One year we had picked a director for a show that none of us knew but we were excited to work with after interviewing him. A few days later after offering him the role of director, I received a dm from a friend saying that one of their friends was sexually assaulted by him so we immediately halted prep for the show and started looking into the accusation. We ended up rescinding the offer of director to him which meant we were not able to do the show. That sucked but we cared more about the wellbeing of our community than doing the show.
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