With all of the best intentions and aspirations, local actor and director Alicia Young launched a nonprofit in May 2020, she said at the time, “to galvanize theatermakers to take demonstrable action toward inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.”

With IDEA Stages, Young strove to make the pandemic performance pause a line in the sand for theatermakers everywhere between the old way of doing things and the new way moving forward: Inclusive. Equal. Safe. Together.

But all of those aspirations began to unravel last fall after cast members from Vintage Theatre’s production of “In the Heights” came forward with a six-page document detailing perceived offenses committed by Young herself as an actor during the run of that show. Their report was  accompanied by a series of damning text-message screen shots that seemed to indicate, in cast member Michal McDowell’s mind, “hypocritical behavior on Young’s part.”

On Saturday, an accountability committee created by the very organization Young founded recommended that Young be suspended as the organization’s founding executive director “and all associated leadership responsibilities related to IDEAs.” It said their difficult decision was made “with careful consideration and a commitment to the organization’s longterm well-being.”

It continues: “This decision is not made lightly but stems from a genuine dedication to fostering a healthy and inclusive organizational culture.”

The full IDEA Stages board will vote on the recommendation by next week, said MiDian Holmes, who chaired the accountability committee.

McDowell, who brought the complaint with “In the Heights” director Jonathan Andujar, welcomed today’s decision and thanked the committee for conducting what she called “a thorough and thoughtful investigation” into a painful incident that has divided the local stage community.

“This decision means that the person who is championed in our community as the one who keeps everyone in Denver-area theaters safe hurt us in all of the same ways that she wanted other people to stop doing,” McDowell told The Denver Gazette.

Young, reached on vacation, declined comment.

The original complaint alleged that Young, among other things, “engaged in body-shaming and racist behavior that is antithetical to the mission of IDEA Stages,” McDowell said, including sending sexually graphic and inflammatory group text messages to members of the cast and crew. The IDEA Stages accountability committee agreed that Young’s actions “caused profound harm” that created a subsequent work disruption and a hostile work environment.

A few months later, Vintage Theatre fired Young as the director of its holiday production, “Black Nativity.” Soon after, the company canceled the production altogether, costing it about $30,000 in ticket revenue. On Facebook, the theater attributed the cancellation to “multiple challenges  and unforeseen circumstances … and to support the safety and health of the cast and crew.”

As a nonprofit without a dues-paying membership, IDEA Stages is largely a self-appointed organization whose mission is “to galvanize theatermakers to take demonstrable action toward inclusion, diversity, equity and accessibility.”

READ THE FULL REPORT

Today’s seven-page report found that fault in the matter extends well beyond Young to include leadership of both Vintage Theatre and IDEA Stages, as well as the “In the Heights” creative team. It detailed communication breakdowns and insufficient pathways for effective conflict resolution. It cited Andujar, a first-time director at Vintage, as being “ill-equipped” and that he “ineffectively managed inequities that were disrupting the production.” It also said Vintage “failed to effectively address concerns presented to the theater’s leaders.” It also noted that, after the fact, social media was deployed to perpetuate harm for all impacted parties.

The report calls on the local stage community “to collectively commit to positive change and healing by fostering open communication, as well as to promote transparency, address backstage conduct issues, and encourage communication and responsiveness. It asks the community to make a pact to discourage harmful behavior on social media and instead use it as a tool to promote positive engagement and empathy.

“These recommendations aim to … create a foundation for a more inclusive, transparent, and accountable community culture,” the report concludes. “This will require a collective approach and should engage us both introspectively and while in leadership spaces.”

McDowell said her hope in bringing the complaint was not  to cancel Young.

“I believe in second chances, redemption and grace,” she said. “My hope is that Lisa can step back, regroup, grow, and come back to do big and great things.”

Holmes said the intention of the committee’s report is to promote restoration and atonement.

“When you talk about an organization like ours, for us to achieve our desired outcomes, it is really important that those people who are going to be involved are not only good stewards of the work, but we also have to understand that if there is discord based on anything we have done, that we have to step up and look into it. That’s the work. That’s who we are as an organization, and that is what we are committed to.”