Community theater suspends director accused in lawsuits of sexual assault

BRIDGEPORT — A community theater director accused in lawsuits of sexually assaulting three teenagers who participated in his theater productions has been suspended indefinitely from his latest position.

“The Little Theatre of Manchester was made aware today of a lawsuit filed against Daniel Checovetes,” said theater spokesman Dwayne Harris. “Mr. Checovetes has served as a paid independent contractor with the Little Theatre of Manchester since at least 2018 in a technical production capacity working with adult volunteers. Mr. Checovetes’ role did not directly put him in a position to oversee or to be alone with minors. Although there have been no allegations or observations of inappropriate behavior at LTM, we have decided to suspend our relationship with Mr. Checovetes indefinitely.”

Attempts to reach Checovetes were unsuccessful.

According to the lawsuits filed in Superior Court in Waterbury, Daniel Checovetes allegedly used his position to gain access to the then-teenagers and then sexually assaulted them.

“Checovetes used their love of theater to place the girls in roles in his productions as part of his grooming process to gain their trust and have access to them,” said attorney Jason Tremont, of the Bridgeport law firm Tremont, Sheldon, Robinson and Mahoney, which filed the suit.

In addition to Checovetes, the women, now in their 20s, are suing the Naugatuck Teen Theater, the Landmark Community Theatre, the Warner Theatre and the Thomaston Opera House.

In 2009, the three young women were 14, 16 and 17 respectively. Two were aspiring actresses and singers. The third wanted to be a theater lighting specialist. They enrolled in the Naugatuck Teen Theater is a youth program in Naugatuck open to all 7th- through 12th-grade students from surrounding communities, according to the lawsuit.

The assaults took place between 2009 and 2016 at the theaters or performance spaces as well as other locations, the suit alleges.