New Haven Register (New Haven, CT)
Theater takes stock after culture audit
Edelstein ‘too big to fail’; new rules being put in place
NEW HAVEN — Long Wharf Theatre on Tuesday released the results of a culture audit ordered in the wake of January’s bombshell report in the New York Times that led to the firing of Artistic Director Gordon Edelstein over sexual harassment reports.
Attorney Penny Mason of the firm LeClair Ryan in New Haven found that while Long Wharf had rules, procedures and training in place “that met the rule of law,” Edelstein was “a big personality who dominated the room.” (“The
phrase ‘too big to fail’ comes to mind, with an amendment: ‘Too big to be held accountable,’” she wrote.) That persona and his artistic success “gave him cover for harassment of theater employees who did not feel empowered to complain,” Mason wrote in her report.
The Times report presented four women who alleged unwanted sexual contact by Edelstein since his arrival in 2002, six other former employees who described sexually explicit remarks by Edelstein in the workplace and even the former arts editor of the New Haven Register, Laura CollinsHughes, who spoke of an unwelcome kiss on the lips. The day the article came out, Edelstein was put on leave by theater board of trustees Chairwoman Laura Pappano. He was fired after a meeting of the board a day later and a process was started leading to Tuesday’s report, which was announced to staff earlier Tuesday and endorsed by all members of the board.
Managing Director Joshua Borenstein said the lawyer’s report did not find a “rampant culture of sexual harassment” despite the incidents and lewd comments by Edelstein.
“We ultimately had a culture where there wasn’t a lot of good communication,” said Borenstein Tuesday afternoon. “And so people didn’t really understand the procedures if they were witnessing or concerned about misconduct. And they were also concerned whether or not they would be believed or taken seriously if they offered a complaint.”
After interviews with 21 people involved with the theater and a review of handbooks and other documents over several months, Mason included in her findings that management should respond to employee issues, not the board.
She said staffers have a misconception that the board has not changed since 2006 but it should be noted that the “board has turned over since the sexual harassment complaints.”
The theater’s handbook includes reporting to the chairperson (Pappano in this case) if the harasser is the managing director but “is silent regarding the artistic director,” Mason’s report said, so it must be amended to include the artistic director.
Other recommendations focused on better human resources procedures, more training and improved communication between the board and staff.
The board’s endorsement of the letter to staff, said Pappano, “is a statement that it’s not the board’s job to be in the day-to-day business of the theater, but the board wants to take responsibility for having an abusefree workplace. We care that this is a strong, collaborative, fair and just place for all of the staff and theater artists who are working.”
While some of the suggestions are “granular,” said Borenstein, “there are also some larger suggestions about improving the culture of the organization. How do you create an organization that’s more communicative, that’s more open. And Laura (Pappano) and I have taken that to mean, ‘What do we do to make it more collaborative as well?’ Especially when you’re working with creative people. How do you make a place where they feel that all of their contributions can be valid?”
Pappano said the context “for all of this is that there are a lot of things happening at Long Wharf all at once. So we happened to have been starting work on a strategic plan, which is coming to fruition now ... so all of these things are informing the strategic plan.”
Pappano said as Mason
was wrapping up her review, an ad hoc committee was formed at the theater (including trustees with experience in management and led by lawyer William Aseltyne) to make specific recommendations. A list of those was released Tuesday, including “Create one-page document with statements of values and expectations for visiting artists” and a deadline of September 2018, when the season begins.
The board’s memo to staff notes that trustees are committed to preventing future events of harassment and to creating clear mechanisms for reporting incidents, promoting a culture where one can speak up and increasing diversity of staff and board.
Borenstein took on Edelstein’s duties after the firing, including developing the bulk of this coming season and beyond, but a search committee was formed to find a new artistic director, who will work under a new job description than Edelstein. A transition committee’s work led to language in the June 7 public posting that the theater is looking for “someone who is very collaborative, who is open, who is a mentor. We’re looking for someone who is in sync with this tone,” Pappano said.
She denied the theater was just riding out this local wave of the #MeToo movement.
“We are in the midst of a moment in this country,” said Pappano. “You can look at it across industries, you can look at it in restaurants, in politics ... in film, so many venues where you can see this kind of change. And I think it’s a refreshing and a very positive change, and it’s a just a different way of operating . ... We want to be ahead of it, we don’t want to just, like, play catchup and do what we think everyone else is doing. We want to do what we think is the right thing to do in this moment and for this age going forward.