Anti-LGBTQ Posts by Executive Director Raise Serious Questions for Illinois Community Theater

by Chris Peterson

Alton Little Theater in IL is facing renewed scrutiny after a report detailing the resignation of the theater’s chair of diversity, equity, and inclusion, after discovering anti-LGBTQ social media posts by the theater’s executive director, Eric Sykes.  

Malcom Kraft, who left in February before reaching two years in the role, described the situation around Sykes as the “final straw.” He told The Telegraph newspaper he only learned about Sykes’ past social media activity in February.

Shortly before he was hired by Alton Little Theatre, Sykes posted on X that nonbinary identity was “not based in science or logic” and insisted there are “2 genders.”

In a separate post, Sykes accused Target of “sexualizing” children through its Pride clothing. Sykes confirmed to local news that the posts were his. He was hired as Executive Director at Alton Little Theater in Jan of 2025.

Kraft told The Telegraph the posts were “harmful” and “sad to see,” particularly given how many LGBTQ+ people are part of the theater community. He said “the transphobia” in the posts hit especially hard and pointed to the contradiction between that rhetoric and theater spaces that are often understood as places of expression and refuge.

The backlash has also unfolded alongside a broader dispute involving Sykes and local theater advocate Paige Galligos. The Telegraph also reported that the two clashed publicly on Facebook after Galligos criticized Sykes and the theater over its handling of past sexual assault allegations tied to the organization.

Sykes later sent Galligos a demand letter seeking a retraction and $7,500 in damages over statements he said were defamatory. Meanwhile, the earlier allegations remain part of the public conversation: the theater said in January 2025 that a current employee linked to those allegations had been placed on administrative leave pending an internal investigation, and Madison County authorities said in January 2026 that the investigation was still ongoing. Sykes told the paper that no predators were being protected at the theater.

Eric Sykes X Profile

The controversy lands especially awkwardly against the theater’s own public-facing identity. On its website, Alton Little Theater describes its 93rd season as one meant to “bring our community together” and includes Cabaret among its upcoming productions, a show it calls “a bold, seductive musical set inside Berlin’s infamous Kit Kat Club as the world outside begins to change.”

The season announcement also says live theater matters because it can “challenge our artists” and create “meaningful moments.”

A theater can say it values community, inclusion, and artistic expression, but those values are tested by who it places in leadership and what it is willing to excuse from them. When the leader of a community theater has publicly framed nonbinary identity as illegitimate and Pride visibility as suspect, it is fair to ask what kind of welcome that institution is really offering.

And when the person leading diversity, equity, and inclusion decides that controversy is the “final straw,” it is even more fair to ask whether the theater’s stated values are values it actually intends to live by.