WALLINGFORD, CT- A case that has been under the radar was recently brought to Law Enforcement Today’s attention and is extremely disturbing. According to OnStage Blog, a theatre company based in this southern Connecticut community is facing a lawsuit alleging grooming and sexual abuse of a young performer who joined the group as a child in 2007.
The lawsuit, filed in Connecticut Superior Court, alleges that the group’s co-founders–Jared Brown and Patrick Laffin–invited minors to their home for overnight gatherings, provided alcohol to the children, and carried out “repeated acts of sexual assault.”
Moreover, the suit also names the theatre itself in the suit, accusing it of ignoring reports, refusing to investigate credible complaints, and leaving Brown and Laffin with unfettered and unsupervised access to minor children, despite being aware of the risks.
The theatre company, Square Foot Theatre, “Built its reputation on creativity and community with young performers,” OnStage Blog reported, saying that “the allegations strike at its core.”
“[T]he rest of us are left asking the questions that matter: how did this happen, who looked away, and why was nothing done?”
The blog rued the fact that community theatre should be a safe place for young children, free from second-guessing by parents.
“Young actors should not feel that pleasing a director is the only way to be seen,” the blog noted. “But when all the power is concentrated in the hands of a few, and no one is watching, that is when grooming thrives.”
Often, whether in theatre or anywhere else, potential grooming initially looks like anything but. Usually it appears to be favoritism, such as awarding an extra role or offering private coaching session. Children who suffer from lack of self-esteem may feel important by getting such attention and once an actor feels “chosen” the “lines become blurred.” Soon, instead of mentorship, the relationship takes on the effect of control. According to the lawsuit, that is precisely what happened at Square Foot Theatre.
One might wonder why parents would let their children, even though they were teenagers, sleep at the home of grown men. That is probably a valid question, however it distracts from who is really to blame, and that is Brown and Laffin, along with the theatre company, which likely portrayed the two as “trusted mentors.”
“The theatre wrapped them in credibility, presenting them as leaders who created opportunity and nurtured talent. When someone is given that kind of authority by an institution, it lowers every guard. Parents did not drop their children off at strangers’ houses. They dropped them off at the homes of the very men the theatre said could be trusted with their kids’ futures,’ the blog noted.
The fact that Square Foot Theatre ignored the reports speaks volumes about whether the plaintiffs should prevail in this suit. They made a choice, and chose to remain silent and stay out of it. They allowed it to keep happening.
Grooming does not happen in a vacuum. In many cases, it is obvious to anyone with eyes wide open. And from all appearances, it is not limited to only Square Foot. According to OnStage, four other community theatre companies in Connecticut–Naugatuck Teen Theater, Landmark Community Theatre in Thomaston, Warner Theatre in Torrington, and the Thomaston Opera House–have all agreed to pay financial settlements to three women who say they were sexually assaulted as teenagers while participating in youth theater programs.
In that case, the lawsuits were filed in Waterbury Superior Court, and the terms of the settlements were confidential.
“This matter was settled to the mutual satisfaction of the parties,” said Jason Tremont, the attorney who represented the women.
The common denominator of the cases is Daniel Checovetes, a former director and stage manager at several of the theaters, who, in March, pleaded guilty to sexually assaulting the women when they were teens. He was sentenced to eight and one-half years in prison.
Police initially declined to file criminal charges. It was only after the civil suit was filed that the case was reopened.
“He raped me in the Thomaston Opera House,” one victim testified in court.
Another survivor said, “He took my virginity. He was violent, choked, grabbed me, and slapped me. I had bruises on my breasts. I thought this was normal and how it was supposed to be. He wanted me to take birth control. I was vulnerable. I was a child.”
In that case, as in the Square Foot case, the theaters are alleged to have had previous knowledge that some of their staff members had been arrested or convicted for child pornography charges.
During a deposition, Checovetes admitted to sexually assaulting two of the women in 2015 and 2016.
“As a practicing attorney for over 30 years who handles sex abuse cases for minor victims, it is highly unusual for a perpetrator to admit to having sexual relations with minors. Usually, they deny it or plead the Fifth,” said Attorney Jason Tremont, who represented the victims.
Where there is smoke, there’s fire, and there appears to be a smoldering inferno at community theater groups in Connecticut. On Stage has some suggestions:
“Reform has to be the new standard. Background checks for anyone working with minors. Mandatory training on grooming and boundaries. Strict rules that ban oversight or unsupervised access. Codes of conduct that everyone must sign. Anonymous reporting systems with teeth. Boards that actually hold leaders accountable. And yes, outside oversight when necessary, because self-policing has proven worthless.”
Other organizations have taken steps to ensure that such abuse doesn’t take place. A theater group in Chicago shut down when abuse came to light, with its board resigning in shame. The Guthrie Theater in Minneapolis hired outside consultants, rewrote policies, and forced a culture shift, OnStage wrote. Other groups, such as USA Gymnastics and the Boy Scouts of America, were a day late and a dollar short, finally implemented independent monitoring and survivor hotlines.
“None of it erases harm, but it shows that accountability is possible if leadership is willing to act.
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“Theatre should be a place where young people discover their voice, not the place where it is taken from them,” OnStage wrote. “If these allegations are true, then the most dangerous act at Square Foot Theatre was not on stage. It was what happened when power went unchecked behind the curtain.”
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