What The Muni Theatre's Harassment Policy Gets Wrong— And What Today's Theatres Can Learn From It
by Chris Peterson
The Springfield Muni is now at the center of a widening controversy over how it handled sexual harassment allegations involving Marc Wilson, a longtime actor who had been most recently cast as Pabbie in its upcoming production of Disney’s Frozen.
According to reporting from Illinois Times and The State Journal-Register, the complaints centered on alleged inappropriate comments made by Wilson to female members of the theatre community.
Illinois Times also reported that it interviewed two people, a woman who requested anonymity and 16-year-old Kaiyah Bubniak, who said they were the focus of unwanted attention from Wilson last year. Bubniak told Illinois Times she was 15 at the time and said Wilson called her “cute,” tried to spend time alone with her while they painted sets, and brought up conversation topics she considered questionable.
After posting a questionable defense of his actions on social media, Wilson has denied that he posed a danger to anyone and told the Illinois Times that he has been falsely accused of a wider range of misconduct. He also said he deeply regrets that anyone was made to feel uncomfortable by his actions and has voluntarily withdrawn from Frozen. The Muni, after a month-long internal investigation, found no violation of its Code of Conduct.
That finding may satisfy the theatre’s internal process. It clearly did not satisfy the community.
Because the issue now is not only what Wilson allegedly said or did. The issue is whether The Muni’s leadership responded with enough care, transparency, and urgency when people came forward saying they felt unsafe, unheard, or dismissed.
The Good: A Policy That Actually Exists
This seems like faint praise, but too often theatres do not actually have any documented policy whatsoever. At minimum, every theatre should have a posted code of conduct that every volunteer and employee should sign off on stating they will adhere to it.
But every theatre should also have a sexual harassment policy, and Muni has one. From what we can see, the policy clearly states that harassment will not be tolerated and extends those protections beyond employees to volunteers. It also defines the "Muni environment" broadly, covering rehearsals, performances, work calls, board functions, and theater-related social events.
Every harassment policy should spell that out.
The policy also provides multiple reporting channels. A complainant can report concerns to an investigation officer, a director, an assistant director, or a member of the board. It further requires directors and board members who become aware of harassment to take action and notify leadership.
Also importantly, the policy outlines a specific investigation process to be followed. This process includes how to file the initial report, intake screening, the investigation by Muni (and how it should be conducted), and the filing of the final report.
For many community theaters, that's already more structure than exists today.
The policy also explicitly prohibits retaliation, recognizing that people who come forward must be protected from punishment or exclusion because they reported misconduct.
Those are all positive elements and remain relevant today.
The Bad: A Policy Frozen In Time
Unfortunately, the policy also reads like an antiquated document.
Its biggest weakness is that despite opening with a reference to harassment generally, nearly all of its substantive provisions focus exclusively on sexual harassment.
There is no mention of harassment based on race, religion, disability, age, national origin, sexual orientation, gender identity, veteran status, and other federally protected characteristics. Perhaps this is covered in other official documentation the Muni provides, but in any policy covering harassment, even one focusing on sexual harassment, those characteristics should be mentioned as well. To be clear, federal law applies whether it is in the policy or not, but calling it out, and making workers and volunteers sign off acknowledging it, is the proper process.
Missing The Digital World
Another glaring issue is the absence of any discussion of electronic communications. This is why we suspect this policy was written decades ago and has not been updated since.
A proper harassment policy also spells out that behavior and communication through text messages, emails, social media platforms, and group chats are also subject to the policy. In 2026, inappropriate conduct may occur entirely online.
Any theater updating its policies today should specifically address digital communications and online conduct.
The Independence Problem
The biggest issue, though, is regarding investigative independence.
Under the policy, the investigation officer is the president of the Board of Managers or someone appointed by the president.
That arrangement may have seemed practical when the policy was drafted, but modern governance standards recognize the obvious problem: what happens when leadership itself becomes the subject of a complaint?
What happens if a board member is accused?
What happens if a complainant does not trust the president or believes leadership has a conflict of interest?
Today's best practices generally include independent reporting options; oftentimes, a lawyer with no connections to the institution will be designated as the investigative officer to avoid any possibility of conflict of interest.
Those safeguards appear to be missing from this policy.
The False Accusation Problem
The policy includes a provision allowing sanctions for false accusations. It reads as follows:
“If during the course of or after the completion of an investigation there is a finding that the allegations of harassment came under false pretenses, the accuser will be subject to sanctions up to and including barring from future involvement with the Muni.”
At first glance, that seems reasonable.
However, there is no distinction made between a knowingly false allegations and a complaint made in good faith that cannot be substantiated.
That distinction is critical, and can be found in most policies today
Without it, participants may fear that if they cannot prove misconduct, they could face punishment themselves. The result can be a chilling effect that discourages reporting altogether.
What The Theater Community Should Learn
Every organization should ask itself:
Are our reporting channels truly independent?
Do participants trust the process?
Does the policy address modern forms of harassment?
Does it cover harassment beyond sexual misconduct?
Are complainants protected from retaliation?
Do we have procedures for conflicts of interest?
Have we reviewed the policy within the last few years (or in this case, probably decades?)
The Muni's policy’s shortcomings are bad, but at least instructive.
For community theaters across the country, the most valuable takeaway may be that having a policy is only the beginning. Maintaining one that reflects today’s world is the real challenge.