It's sad to read, here and in other victims' accounts of alleged predators, of actors being covertly groped onstage and feeling unable to break character to halt the assault. As an audience member, I would rather an actor stop the show to call somebody out on this, than have them feel that they need to endure harassment for the sake of my night out. I can't be alone in that?
In a perfect world, it would be considered the height of theatrical professionalism to stop the show under such circumstances, just as it would be to do so for safety reasons if a gaping hole (somehow) opened up in the stage floor mid-show. (This is not to deride any alleged victims' professionalism; I can understand why most performers must feel that they can't make that choice.) No doubt a producer who was supportive of victims calling out onstage harassment 'in the moment' would have various additional logistical, financial, legal and PR complications to deal with, but shouldn't it be considered worth all that to prioritise actors' wellbeing? Clearly the psychological scars of these incidents can be long-lasting. (Of course, in practice perhaps very few actors would avail themselves of the right to stop the show anyway, for fear of gaining a reputation for being 'difficult', but changing that mindset has to start somewhere.)
Even if stopping the show isn't explicitly supported per se, it's important that theatres' harassment policies outline some specific, protected courses of action and escalation available to alleged victims.
