The Jesse Williams Broadway leak wouldn't have happened if the theater staff did their job

by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder

News broke this week that an audience member secretly recorded a nude scene during the Broadway play, ‘Take Me Out’, and then posted images and video of Brodway cast member Jesse Williams on social media. The gross action led to widespread outrage from the theatre community.

Both Actor’s Equity and the theatre, 2nd Stage Theater, released statements condemning the incident and promising that action will be taken.

I agree with the outrage. What happened is sexual harassment and a gross violation of privacy and theatre policy. Whoever did this should be barred from ever attending a show again. But this wouldn’t have happened if the staff at the Hayes Theater did their job properly.

While I disagree that there was a need for a nude scene in the show, to begin with, that’s hardly the point. With this type of scene in the show, producers and the theatre ensured the actors that they would be safe. They have a policy that requires spectators to place phones and smart devices in sealed cases before the show. The aim of the policy wasn’t to seal as many phones as they could. The aim of the policy was to seal all the phones.

If the truth of the situation was that someone simply and easily snuck their phone into the theatre, that’s a failure of the policy that the theatre set and it concerns me that it may have already happened before this and it will happen again. If the theater was relying on some sort of “honor” system with the audience to ensure the safety of the performers, that’s just downright stupid and dangerous.

Appearing nude on stage isn’t an easy process for everyone. It takes courage, focus, and trust in everyone in the building. It’s unfortunate that the staff in the building let Jesse Williams down. It cannot happen again.

There is a vast difference between ushering and overseeing security policies in entertainment. I’ve seen it from both sides. This article isn’t attacking an usher or any Front of House staff member who is not responsible for ensuring security policies. It is a criticism of whoever was responsible for ensuring security policy at the Helen Hayes Theater. Security policy needs to be infallible. Anything less is a failure.

If the security of this show was of the utmost importance, then the theater needs to employ the right staff to ensure it.