Performers And Staffers At “Sleep No More” Say Audience Members Have Sexually Assaulted Them

[Anakela]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 10:44am

But eight former Sleep No More performers and staffers told BuzzFeed News they were groped by audience members during the show. In all, BuzzFeed News confirmed 17 incidents of groping or sexual misconduct by patrons during the show — including of two former performers who were groped multiple times. Sleep No More acknowledged seven of those incidents, and contested the rest. In all, BuzzFeed News spoke with more than 30 current and former employees, but most declined to be identified, citing Sleep No More’s nondisclosure agreements or fear of reprisal from the company and theater community. Four former employees who were groped provided their names.

Performers And Staffers At “Sleep No More” Say Audience Members Have Sexually Assaulted Them

[Broadway Joe]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 11:26am

I can't say I'm surprised that drunk morons wearing masks act extremely poorly. They should remove these people and file charges if the actors want to though.

I've debated going to this show over the years but I have no interest in wearing a mask the entire time and that's the main reason I haven't bothered going.

[boonanas]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 11:34am

This is odd because I've seen audience members get groped by the actors, particularly a topless actress groped a female in the crowd and made out with her.  The whole performance has a lot of blurred lines as to what is appropriate and what is not.

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 11:58am

Didn't they make this an episode of LAW & ORDER: SVU already?

[John Adams]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:02pm

boonanas said: "This is odd because I've seen audience members get groped by the actors, particularly a topless actress groped a female in the crowd and made out with her. The whole performance has a lot of blurred lines as to what is appropriate and what is not."

That was my first thought, too. Did no one anticipate that groping was going to be an inevitable consequence, given the nature of the show? If not... well, that would be stoopid.

Does anyone know if security personnel are indiscriminately part of the cast/crew so that actors are protected?

[jawjuhh]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:05pm

Wow, this is a shocking piece. I highly encourage everyone to read the entire piece to really see the amount of negligence and disregard these incidents are being treated with.

One of the worst parts:

[A technical staffer] said that... a supervisor asked her to wear a white mask and pose as an audience member during that night’s show. She said the supervisor’s instructions were to go to a dark room where an interrogation scene takes place, watch for anything of a sexual nature, and stop anything nonconsensual.

The technical staffer wrote in her resignation email, seen by BuzzFeed News, that she was told she’d been given the assignment because, during a previous performance, a woman in the audience had complained she was taken by three men in white masks from the interrogation room and groped. The former staffer texted a friend shortly after, writing that a supervisor had told her “I used you as bait” in case another groping occurred.

Two days later she quit, writing in her resignation email, “I am very uncomfortable with the fact that I was used in an effort to uncover a potential crime happening in the building without any knowledge of what situation I was being put into.”

[adamgreer]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:10pm

A bunch of drunk people wearing masks in a dark space where you're encouraged to interact with the cast.  What could possibly go wrong?

Updated On: 2/6/18 at 12:10 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:14pm

I'm one that referred to this as the Emporer's Clothes, I just didn't like it.

 

That being said....haven't we already heard about this (which doesn't make it less awful) or am I confusing it with a Law & Order SVU plot?)

Did realize they were not union.....which begs me to ask: is non-union COMMON for off B'way? I'm thinking of the bigger/more well known establishments.

[quizking101]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:20pm

LAW AND ORDER: SVU (Season 13, Episode 11) - "Theatre Tricks"

An actress (Jenn Proske) in an interactive theater production is raped on stage, while the audience believes it to be part of the show. The SVU detectives hit a dead end in their investigation when they learn the show's passionate director (Fisher Stevens) gave the audience, including the assailant, masks to wear during the performance. Rollins and Tutuola track down an obsessed fan (Adam Driver) of the young actress who recorded the assault while stalking her, which leads Benson and Amaro to a respected divorce court judge (Kevin Pollak). With the judge's reputation on the line and Cabot hesitating to charge him, the SVU squad explores the underbelly of the New York theater world to uncover who really orchestrated the public attack.

[Kad]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:25pm

dramamama611 said: "Did realize they were not union.....which begs me to ask: is non-union COMMON for off B'way? I'm thinking of the bigger/more well known establishments."

Immersive productions like this or Then She Fell or the like are not typically organized.

 

[newintown]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:30pm

I was lingeringly touched on the butt by an "actor" in this silly piece when I saw it, so this whole thing sounds ridiculous. Here's an equally good headline: "Actor in Naked Boys Singing Accuses Audience Members of Staring at his Genitalia."

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:30pm

Last year the actress playing Hecate unbuttoned my pants and began touching my groin area in front of everyone around, before she whispered 'It begins' in relation to the naked ritual.

I just assumed going in gave the performers the right to do what they were asked to, whether that was appropriate or not. I really didn't have an issue with it but it is a strongly sexually charged show that purposely avoids any warnings of what you may encounter.

It is a huge dark space and not all of it is monitored at all times. Something was meant to go wrong at some point. It is certainly not tailored to sensitivities from either side.

[BuddyStarr]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:30pm

This is not surprising at all.  With more and more being "interactive", the audience feels like they can treat the actors like Disney characters and say or do whatever they want.  This happened all the time way back when I used to do Mystery Cafe and are working with mainly drunk people.  As a male, the female audience members were the worse and so messy.

 

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:32pm

Sleep No More falls in a grey area/loophole with Equity.  Equity has been on site many times to try to work out if unionizing is an option.  The staff upstairs at the bar/restaurant usually make as much/more than the performers do downstairs.  It's my favorite long running theatrical offering in NYC but there are skeletons in every closet anywhere!

[Tom5]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:37pm

Sounds like lap dancing with artistic pretensions. Weirder than I heard about it.

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:42pm

Both times I’ve been to Sleep No More I had a “one on one.” They were both extremely sexually charged and the first time I went I was certain the actor was going to kiss me. The second time it happened I realized that it was just part of the show. But I had never experienced something like that before and it was pretty shocking at first. I can see why boundaries are getting blurry, especially if people are drinking.

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 12:42pm

It doesn't help that someone anon quoted in the article and who is top manager at Sleep No More treats front-line staff terribly.  I have stories for days.  Stories that include the manager in question having guests crawl out of an elevator that was stopped between two floors so that the show wouldn't have to be canceled/refunded.  There are issues.   

[viola13]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 3:18pm

It seems like the bigger deal is that concerns have been brought up, and nothing has been done about it. Performers wanted a no touching statment added to the opening speech way back in 2011. It wasn't added until 2018 after Buzzfeed started asking questions. A superfan of the show has been enough of a problem that a warning goes out to employees and yet he's still allowed to attend. Punchdrunk's been doing similar shows for years in London/UK, with nothing like this coming out, why not? Is it just as bad and no one's saying anything?

[Sondheimite]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 3:53pm

Punch Drunk has much more control over their shows overseas.  Sleep No More NYC is almost like... a licensed or franchised Punchdrunk production.  Punch Drunk Creative didn't visit the show to check up on it after it opened in until the start of 2016.  Rooms and characters have been cut from the production in the last year to save money as well as the cutting of some effects (like the smells).  More parties have been pushed as well.  It's become run by the money, not by the art.  Which, I suppose, is commercial theatre.  It's just been sad to see what's happened in the past few years.  

[Someone in a Tree2]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 4:20pm

^ That's really sad to hear that rooms and effects are being closed down, though not surprising given the enormity of the job to keep this non-union phenomenon still going strong after SEVEN years!!! I've been 3 times over the years and always marveled at their commitment to keeping things up as well as they have.

Regarding the performers reported in the buzzfeed article who have felt unsafe in the work place, there is no excuse for that in any environment, especially one with such ambiguous rules for conduct. Having said that, what performer in New York could possibly audition for a role in SNM without knowing full well that this show is built on TEASE, thinking not just of the tub scenes, the showers and nude rave scenes, but of the general mind-f*ck that is the point of the evening too. Their whole show is playing with fire-- no surprise then that folks are getting burned.

Updated On: 2/6/18 at 04:20 PM

[dramamama611]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 4:28pm

quizking101 said: "LAW AND ORDER: SVU (Season 13, Episode 11) - "Theatre Tricks"

An actress (Jenn Proske) in an interactive theater production is raped on stage, while the audience believes it to be part of the show. The SVU detectives hit a dead end in their investigation when they learn the show's passionate director (Fisher Stevens) gave the audience, including the assailant, masks to wear during the performance. Rollins and Tutuola track down an obsessed fan (Adam Driver) of the young actress who recorded the assault while stalking her, which leads Benson and Amaro to a respected divorce court judge (Kevin Pollak). With the judge's reputation on the line and Cabot hesitating to charge him, the SVU squad explores the underbelly of the New York theater world to uncover who really orchestrated the public attack."

Lol...yes, I remember the episode well....I guess I meant am I ONLY remembering the episode, and not that I thought I'd heard about this before.

[BJR]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 7:27pm

I have a friend in the show and we were discussing this a few days ago. He has been grabbed by an audience member during one of his nude scenes and producers gave him explicit permission to defend himself when it occurs (as he did) and the audience members will be removed (as they were).

[blaxx]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 10:14pm

BJR said: "I have a friend in the show and we were discussing this a few days ago. He has been grabbed by an audience member during one of his nude scenes and producers gave him explicit permission to defend himself when it occurs (as he did) and the audience members will be removed (as they were)."

Don't want to say this is a lie, but I doubt any professional producer would approach unacceptable behaviour by telling cast members to 'defend themselves' if this happens. It's not WWE .

[TotallyEffed]

Posted: 2/6/18 at 10:24pm

It’s non-union. You’d be very disturbed what can happen to performers when SAG or Equity aren’t involved.

[VintageSnarker]

Posted: 2/7/18 at 2:55am

quizking101 said: "LAW AND ORDER: SVU (Season 13, Episode 11) - "Theatre Tricks"

An actress (Jenn Proske) in an interactive theater production is raped on stage, while the audience believes it to be part of the show. The SVU detectives hit a dead end in their investigation when they learn the show's passionate director (Fisher Stevens) gave the audience, including the assailant, masks to wear during the performance. Rollins and Tutuola track down an obsessed fan (Adam Driver) of the young actress who recorded the assault while stalking her, which leads Benson and Amaro to a respected divorce court judge (Kevin Pollak). With the judge's reputation on the line and Cabot hesitating to charge him, the SVU squad explores the underbelly of the New York theater world to uncover who really orchestrated the public attack."

Side note: While I'm grateful that it's keeping Broadway actors employed, God, SVU is ****. Don't @ me.

Anyway, you'd think if they admit to at least 7 incidents, they'd have a better plan to prevent it from happening than sending out one of the actresses into the audience as "bait."