Broadway Community Takes Action in Wake of Recent Sexual Harassment Headlines

Although Kevin Spacey has not appeared on Broadway for ten years, the backlash over last week's sexual accusations against the theater veteran and 2017 TONY AWARD host has compelled the Broadway community to take action. According to Variety, the theater community is "on guard" as new productions prepare to take the stage this season.

Last week the stage actors union, Actors' Equity Association, sent out an email to 1,500 employers of Equity actors, emphasizing the expectation that harassment policies be reviewed on the first day of work and promising to monitor and enforce the policies that are in place. Said AEA executive director Mary McColl in the email, "In the coming days, Equity staff will be reaching out to request your policy on harassment so that Equity knows what your policy states."

In addition, Broadway's general managers are reviewing what will be considered "appropriate behavior in a professional environment that often necessitates intimacies that would blur lines of professionalism in any other context." Explains one general manager, "We can all be so lackadaisical sometimes. That's something everyone is very aware of now."

According to the site, news of Spacey's misconduct has also resulted in a response from the London theater community. Industry bigwigs such as producer Sonia Friedman (HARRY POTTER AND THE CURSED CHILD) and National Theatre artistic director Rufus Norris are behind a new code of conduct which aims to prevent harassment and abuse in the West End. The movement was spearheaded by Royal Court artistic director Vicky Featherstone.

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Photo Credit: Genevieve Rafter-Keddy