Activists calling for a code of conduct in non-Equity theaters have declined to meet with Darrell W. Cox, the actor and artistic director accused of misconduct at Profiles Theatre, unless he apologizes for his actions.
Meanwhile, theater professionals in Chicago and other cities continue to respond to the investigation.
Emily Vajda and Harmony France, two actresses who had worked at Profiles, posted personal essays on their respective blogs about their own experiences at the theater. France wrote that she hadn’t experienced any abuse personally; Vajda said that she had fought her own battle with Cox. (She declined to comment for the Reader‘s investigation, but wrote in her post that she regretted not participating in the story.) Like Jones, both women reevaluated their time at the theater in light of what they learned from the investigation, and encouraged actors to stand up and protect one another.
The theater is a place of trust—actors need to trust each other to be able to make great art; audiences, critics included, must be able to trust that what they are seeing on stage is the work of professionals operating in a professional workplace. Those allegations would suggest I took too much on trust, to assume all the actors felt and/or were safe despite the lack of union representation, or some other workplace protections, in the room.
