Eric Schaeffer steps down from Signature Theatre (Virginia) amid sexual assault allegations — Page 2

joevitus said: "Always glad to see a predator lose status, but the comments about how "disgusting" he is for not owning that he's a predator, and friends of his trying to make him look better...I mean, what world do you live in? OF COURSE guilty people most often insist on their innocence, and their friends try to balance the picture. That's reality. Only in little school lessons on fair play do people always cop to their wrongs, and their friends demand their wrongs be highlighted. Most people defend themselves. Most people have at least a few friends who will defend them. I'm not sure why this inspired disgust. The important thing is to distinguish between a snow job and the actual facts, not to get outraged when the guilty refuse to acknowledge their guilt."

I understand this, but my comment was about how disgusting it was that Iains parents were hiding behind his Instagram account to support Eric. That’s wrong. If they want to come out in support of Eric they should use their personal accounts. Not their child’s.

Updated On: 6/25/20 at 05:00 PM

This entire thing has saddened me deeply. In an area that has a great many wonderful theatre companies, Signature has always stood out as one of the best. I am so sorry Thomas Keegan, who is a truly gifted actor, has had to go through this. I am sorry Eric Schaeffers deplorable behavior has forced him to leave the great theatre he created - but considering what he has done, I am not sorry he is gone. I hope the Signature Theatre will get their act together, make amends to those who have been hurt and find a good new artistic director who can help heal and continue to make Signature Theatre one of the best theatres in the country.

joevitus said: "Always glad to see a predator lose status, but the comments about how "disgusting" he is for not owning that he's a predator, and friends of his trying to make him look better...I mean, what world do you live in? OF COURSE guilty people most often insist on their innocence, and their friends try to balance the picture. That's reality. Only in little school lessons on fair play do people always cop to their wrongs, and their friends demand their wrongs be highlighted. Most people defend themselves. Most people have at least a few friends who will defend them. I'm not sure why this inspired disgust. The important thing is to distinguish between a snow job and the actual facts, not to get outraged when the guilty refuse to acknowledge their guilt."

I don't think that anybody is expecting him to own all of his misdeeds, but the lack of acknowledgement is what's really striking. In his statement, he does not acknowledge the reason for his resignation, and he even turns it on his accusers by decrying "polarization." Usually, in a resignation like this, you see some sort of a mea culpa--either in the form of an apology or a firm denial of the accusations--but this resignation is just so... resigned. He makes no apology and no claim of innocence, no "I have learned recently that my behavior has been inappropriate" and no "I empathize with these people speaking out but have to deny the things they accuse me of." Which sort of just leads you to believe that he knows what he did and he doesn't feel sorry for it. Am I reading into it too much?

And as for the Iain Armitage Instagram post, using your famous child's platform to defend an accused sexual predator based solely on the quality of the accused's art is a pretty cynical move.

I didn't care much for his production of FOLLIES, either. I get so tired of hearing about theatres giving, say, the Stephen Sondheim Award to Bernadette Peters and the Bernadette Peters Award to Stephen Sondheim, things like that. I can remember when it was about doing shows.