Sexual harassment claims spark change, debate at Theatre UCF
The email from award-winning playwright Israel Horovitz carried a warning: The New York Times was preparing to publish an article in which multiple women accused him of sexual harassment.
Reading his message, Cynthia White braced herself: She was directing Horovitz’s play “The Day Before Yesterday” at University of Central Florida, and the playwright was scheduled to visit the school in early 2018.
But within days, The Times’ expose detailed numerous charges against Horovitz, UCF faculty huddled to discuss options, students debated whether they wanted to participate in the production — and a decision was reached. Horovitz’s invitation was rescinded, the play was scrapped, and the wave of sexual-misconduct allegations that has toppled public figures from Oscar winner Kevin Spacey to celebrity chef Mario Batali hit home in Central
Florida.
“We struggled with what to do to send the right message to our students,” said Michael Wainstein, director of UCF’s School of Performing Arts. “There were a lot of different points of view.”
The debate was not over whether Horovitz, 78, would be welcome on campus — “It was pretty clear immediately that we couldn’t bring him in, that we didn’t want to bring him in,” White said.
Rather, discussion centered on whether it was possible to separate the man from his work.
“We didn’t want to just dismiss the art because of the artist,” Wainstein said. “If that was the case, there would be a lot of good art missing from the world.”
It’s a question being raised more and more in artistic circles as actors, directors, conductors, dancers, broadcasters and others are called out for inappropriate behavior that often stretches back decades.
In Horovitz’s case, nine women made allegations ranging from a forced kiss to rape. His son, Adam of rap group The Beastie Boys, told the Times he believed the women, while the playwright apologized “with all my heart to any woman who has ever felt compromised by my actions.”
Horovitz was previously accused of inappropriate behavior in the 1990s, but the Gloucester (Mass.) Stage Company, which he founded, defended him. After the latest accusations, Horovitz resigned. Theaters in Fort Worth, Texas, and Tampa also canceled productions of Horovitz plays.
At UCF, student and “Day Before Yesterday” cast member Amanda Dayton found herself torn.
“‘The Day Before Yesterday’ is a beautifully written piece that talks about an important topic,” said Dayton, 25, of Salt Lake City. A powerful response to the 2015 terrorist attack at the Bataclan nightclub in Paris, the play was read at Orlando Shakespeare Theater’s 2016 PlayFest with Horovitz in attendance.
But, after a conversation with her mother, her feelings crystallized.
“I don’t think I could have in good conscience continued,” she said. “I personally would have been uncomfortable. It’s a play I would love to come back to someday. But at this moment in time, knowing the allegations are out there, for me, it would have made a statement I didn’t want to make.”
Students’ feelings — and their education — ultimately led to UCF’s decision to abandon the play, Wainstein said.
“We didn’t want to just cancel it; we wanted it to be a teachable moment,” Wainstein said. “We do not want any gray area in perception by students where we stand on this issue.”
A new play was chosen that has roles for the students previously cast.
“We didn’t want to interrupt their training,” White said.
But some work for the original production, such as a student’s costume designs and the set design, will have to be discarded or reconfigured. “We’ll be working triple time now,” White said.
For the replacement, Theatre UCF deliberately turned to a female playwright. Rebecca Gilman’s “Boy Gets Girl,” which will be staged in February, centers on a young woman who is stalked — and examines the culture that makes such sexism and harassment possible.
“These are really interesting things to be looking at in the context of this situation,” White said.
Dayton and her fellow students are on board.
“Everyone’s really excited about the new show and using it to promote a female playwright and talk about the topic at hand,” she said.
While White thinks “Boy Gets Girl” is the perfect play for the times, she knows the thornier issue of separating art from a tainted artist won’t be settled soon.
“Is there a point in going back in history and throwing out great art by people who did things we don’t approve of?” she mused. “That is a bigger question for down the road.”