Sexual assault claim among cast of Auckland Music Theatre company cancels shows

The Auckland Music Theatre company is facing a claim of sexual assault. Photo / File

A serious allegation of a sexual assault by one cast member against another has resulted in the Auckland Music Theatre company shutting down its latest production early.

Now members of the cast are calling for better processes when it comes to managing such incidents after they felt the situation was not handled properly by management.

On Tuesday, the company announced via social media that the rest of its production season for The Wild Party had been cancelled.

The reason given was "due to unforeseen circumstances''.

Auckland Music Theatre has since confirmed they were aware of the claim, after cast members launched a petition calling for the wider artistic community to "help us create safe performance spaces for everyone''.

In a statement released this afternoon, chairman Richard Neame said they knew of several members involved in the The Wild Party production who had been caught up in a "late night incident'' at a bar in Ponsonby last weekend.

"The alleged incident took place off our premises and the social event was not arranged by Auckland Music Theatre Inc.

"As the safety of our members is paramount and as a result of the alleged incident, Auckland Music Theatre Inc made the difficult decision to cancel its final five performances of The Wild Party to ensure the safety of all its members,'' he said.

"Due to the seriousness of the alleged incident, we sincerely hope all the affected parties seek support from the most appropriate agencies."

Due to unforeseen circumstances the rest of The Wild Party season has been cancelled. Please contact iticket for a refund on any tickets purchased. We do apologise for any inconvenience.

Posted by Auckland Music Theatre on Monday, 23 July 2018

By 5pm today, the petition, on the Change.org website, had brought in almost 600 signatures.

Cast members said the goal was to create a document that outlined best practice and is held as an industry standard for addressing sexual misconduct, adopted by all artistic organisations.

"We would love to see Auckland Music Theatre and the wider theatre community support us as we lead this effort.

"We aim to work with key experts and theatre stakeholders in order to create robust processes so that all artistic organisations are prepared for the (hopefully unlikely) event that any sexual misconduct should occur in the future."