Director Who Tore Apart One Theatre Community, is Being Welcomed with Open Arms by Another
by Chris Peterson, OnStage Blog Founder
In the spring of 2021, a sexual assault allegation rocked the Rhode Island theatre community. A member of Epic Theatre Company in Cranston, R.I., reported that they had been sexually assaulted by founding artistic director Kevin Broccoli. Broccoli refused to resign his position and Epic Theatre Company eventually dissolved. The incident and the details surrounding it divided the theatre community so deeply, that those rifts are still felt today.
But now, just over two years later, another theatre community in another state is welcoming Broccoli with open arms, and worse yet, they don’t seem to care about his past.
“Kevin lured me into a situation under false pretenses. And when I got there, I was thrown against a wall,” the victim wrote in July 2021. “I was never asked if I wanted to hook up. Never given an opportunity to say no. My phone was in one hand and my mask was in another, it happened so quickly. That night I was talking with friends about what happened, then I saw my primary care (physician), then started therapy for the first time as an adult.
Medical records confirmed that a sexual assault had occurred.
The theatre’s reporting policies for sexual harassment, which were written by Broccoli himself in 2017, instructed that incident reports should be directed to him.
According to American Theatre Magazine. the company’s then executive director, Megan Ruggiero, and general manager, Lauren Pothier, conducted a month-long investigation into the accusations, which they ultimately deemed credible.
“When Pothier and Ruggiero met with Broccoli in June 2021, they outlined the allegations made against him and the findings of their investigation and requested that he step down from his position. Broccoli refused, telling them instead that he would find his own replacement—a decision which prompted the resignations of Pothier, Ruggiero, and associate artistic director Angelique Dina.”
But Broccoli would never step down and sent the following statement to the Epic Theatre Community where he denied the allegation of sexual assault but admitted to “mistakes” and “inappropriate relationships.”
“Although Epic is not a large company, we do have certain resources and a history of production that I think has some value and I wanted to know if there was a way to continue on with the company if I stepped aside. I felt that whoever was in charge of Epic once we went public with this would inevitably face a storm of criticism. In a sense, they would be asked to clean up a mess caused by me, and I didn’t think that was fair. My suggestion was to have Megan, Lauren, and anyone else on staff resign, and that I would make myself available to face that criticism on my own,” wrote Broccoli.
“While I do not know who the person is that has spoken to the staff, I do know that over the years, I have absolutely made mistakes in regards to starting inappropriate relationships with other people I had working relationships with, and as an Artistic Director, I should have known better,” he added. “Professionalism dictates that any interaction I have with someone working with the company, even while consensual, involves that person having to navigate whether or not engaging with me will be useful in some way and/or whether not engaging with me will hurt them in some way.”
Kevin Broccoli
A police investigation into the allegations was conducted but resulted in no charges. Broccoli was no longer employed by the Town of Johnston, RI as Fiction Specialist at Marian J. Mohr Library. It is unclear if he was fired or resigned.
And after that, Broccoli seemingly disappeared from theatre-related activities.
Until now.
This summer, Broccoli resurfaced with the Pittsburgh New Works Festival(PNWF) in PA where his play, “The Jelly Bean”, is about to open.
The festival, which runs from August to the end of September, describes its programming as “comedy to drama and traditional to cutting edge.” Broccoli’s play opens on September 14th and runs till the 17th.
When folks from Broccoli’s former theatre community found out that PNWF(and McKeesport Little Theatre) was going to produce his play, they sent emails to alert PNWF producers of Broccoli’s past and the damage he incurred. However, they didn’t get a response they would categorize as serious or thoughtful.
Instead, in screenshots provided to OnStage Blog, the response from PNWF doesn’t answer any of the questions raised as to why they are working with Broccoli and seems dismissive of the claims against him.
As of the time of writing this article, his play is still set to premiere next week.
So my question for folks at PNWF is, why are you showcasing the work of a playwright who has been accused of sexually assaulting a member of his own theatre company? Why aren’t you listening to those he harmed in his previous theatre community? Why are you welcoming someone who used their position of power in a theatre to the same type of environment they used to allegedly abuse others?
While there are those who believe that things like this should be “forgive and forget”, I don’t. I have always said that someone who used their stature in a specific industry or environment to abuse others should never be welcomed back through those doors again.
But apparently, the Pittsburgh New Works Festival doesn’t feel the same way I do. Let’s hope they change their mind.