DUMMERSTON — The Vermont Theatre Company (VTC) recently announced measures to address what board President Michelle Page and Vice President Cameron Cobane described as “the troubling allegations that came to light over the summer of 2021, and the roles that both the VTC and longtime board member and former President Robert Kramsky played in enabling the harm done to some of the most vulnerable members of the community.”
The announcement took place in a discussion with public attendees at the VTC's recent annual membership meeting, where Page and Cobane also announced Kramsky's resignation.
A problematic play
The theater company was responding to the public revelations this summer by former Brattleboro resident Mindy Haskins Rogers, in a Viewpoint in The Commons [“No more secrecy,” Voices, Aug. 11].
The VTC's role has raised concern because of Kramsky's decision to stage and direct a play by Zeke Hecker, by then a retired Brattleboro Union High School teacher, with a scene depicting sex between an adult woman and a teenage boy.
Hecker's play, The Lift, was cancelled abruptly in 2008 after a complaint to Kramsky. The details of the complaint were never revealed, and the original complainant remains a mystery.
In multiple interviews, Hecker and Kramsky referenced threats of unspecified legal action. Both implied that the complaint centered on their decision to cast an 18-year-old high school senior in a role where the age of the character was ambiguous, with Kramsky in one interview speculating that he could be as young as 15.
The role of the teen protagonist was recast and the play was staged again in 2009. In press accounts at the time, Hecker and Kramsky framed the previous year's shutdown as the consequence of prudery and censorship taken to chilling extreme.
In the meantime, as a result of the publicity, the case of a former BUHS student made its way to the Brattleboro Police, along with a 1982 letter from Hecker, her former teacher, acknowledging multiple instances of statutory rape against her and other students, for which the statute of limitations had long passed.
In 2019, a new state law removed any statute of limitations on cases of childhood sexual abuse.
The 2009 police investigation did not conclusively unearth more recent wrongdoing, and Hecker was not charged with any crime. Kramsky has never been a subject of criminal investigation.
But the public records of the police investigation revealed that Kramsky told officers that he had been informed about Hecker's behavior by a former department head at the high school.
The same student who later made the police report also anonymously sent Kramsky a copy of Hecker's 1982 letter.
The police reported that Kramsky said he discarded the letter and cover note from the survivor because “he did not know the validity of this letter and was not about to let someone tell him whom he could work with.”
In response to Haskins Rogers' piece, both Kramsky and the board of the VTC immediately issued apologies for their respective roles and for consequences that ensued.
'Repairing harm done'
As described in the news release, Page and Cobane reiterated a sincere apology for VTC's role, after the Board of Trustees had taken time to reflect on the theater company's place in and responsibility to the community.
They reaffirmed the board's commitment to being a safe space for all members of the community as well as an avenue to address and spark conversation about social concerns.
To help repair the harm done, in addition to donating $1 for every ticket sold for their 2021-22 season to Windham County Safe Place, a nonprofit which provides resources to victims of child sexual abuse, and bringing in a third party to consult on intimacy issues in future productions, Page and Cobane also announced Kramsky's voluntary resignation from the the VTC Board of Trustees.
“The Vermont Theatre Company is no single season, show, or individual,” they stated. “It is an ever-changing community of friends and neighbors who wish to share their skills, resources, and passion to keep local community theater alive in Brattleboro and the surrounding tri-state area.”
The public meeting was then brought to a close with the nomination and election of the VTC's 2021-22 Board of Trustees by attendees.
Returning board members are Page, Cobane, Nichole Bliznak, and Brenda L. Seitz. New board members are Shannon Ward, Geoff Dolman, Charlene Kennedy, Ruben Garza, Dawn Grobe, and Krista Coughlin-Galbraith.
Page is serving as the board's president, with Cobane as the board's vice-president, Seitz as the board's treasurer, and Grobe as the board's secretary.
The board also noted “additional measures to become a more mindful and present community organization.”
The Vermont Theatre Company is working with students at Brattleboro Union High School to design a new logo “to reflect the community-mindedness of a modern Vermont Theatre Company” and developing “an exciting collaboration with the Retreat Farm in Brattleboro to help bring live theater to a beloved community institution.”
Promoting the arts in Brattleboro is the overarching mission of VTC, now in its 38th season. Productions this year will include:
• The Winter's Tale, by William Shakespeare, directed by Shannon Ward, will be performed at the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery in Brattleboro on Feb. 11, 12, and 13 and 18, 19, and 20.
• Rathmines Road, by Dierdre Kinahan, directed by Charlene Kennedy, will also be staged at the Hooker-Dunham Theater and Gallery in Brattleboro on April 29 and 30, and May 1, 6, 7, and 8.
• The Servant of Two Masters, a commedia dell'arte classic by Carlo Goldoni, directed by Jessa Rowan, will be held at the Retreat Farm in Brattleboro from July 1 to 3.
For more information on the Vermont Theatre Company or to become involved, visit vermonttheatrecompany.org.