"Guy Sanville, the artistic director of the Purple Rose, is stepping down according to a letter that the Purple Rose sent out to donors on Friday.

Sanville was the subject of a 7-part report this week here at OnStage Blog which detailed allegations of abuse dating back decades.”

“The Purple Rose Theater Company, which has been accused of multiple forms of abuse and operating a toxic environment, has been making several changes in the past 20 months—and they say many started before that.”

“The Purple Rose Theatre, a resident Equity company in Chelsea, Michigan founded by Jeff Daniels, has been accused of fostering an unsafe work environment that does not recognize boundaries and mocks the idea of needing an intimacy professional. Meanwhile, artists have said they were forced into situations that were uncomfortable or had to observe incidents that crossed boundaries, in particular for female-presenting or LGBTQ+ artists.”

“In the complaints lodged against the Purple Rose Theatre Company in Chelsea, MI, a regional Equity house founded by actor Jeff Daniels and run by Guy Sanville, many artists have said it was made very clear that LGBTQ+ actors are not welcome there.”

“On a recent Stephen Colbert episode, Purple Rose owner Jeff Daniels mentioned George Floyd and said that white America has to do better about issues of race. It was an episode that had many people seething because they felt he was not taking care of race-related issues in the Chelsea, Michigan theater he founded, The Purple Rose.”

“As more stories surface about the working environment at the Purple Rose Theater in Chelsea, a regional Equity house founded by actor Jeff Daniels, a common thread has been the relating of incidents that appear to violate U.S. employment laws, state wage, and hour laws, and OSHA requirements.”

“Jowi Estava has been away from the Purple Rose for five years, but still stutters and stumbles when she talks about her experience there, an experience that she said gave her PTSD and almost took away her ability to perform.”

“The Purple Rose Theatre, an Equity house in Chelsea, Michigan founded and run by actor Jeff Daniels, has been accused of operating a toxic environment that is abusive to women, people of color and those identifying as LGBTQ+.”

“If THIS is the man – a known abusive tyrant, volatile felon, and remorseless manipulator who is still demonstrating dangerously unscrupulous financial, behavioral and creative practices – who is Broadway’s literal first choice to reopen the very first new work in the world’s most prominent theatre scene, we are in trouble.”

“Paradise Square is principally only seeing the light of day now because Drabinsky’s first and previous comeback attempt failed, and he remains ravenous in his quest for success. It should be noted, however, that there is more than an insignificant chance of it facing this same fate of pre-Broadway vanishment as its predecessor, Sousatzka.”

“There is not a day in my life that I don’t resent what Garth did to me.”

“Drabinsky’s imminent re-emergence on Broadway thus places him at the center of a culture in which he no longer belongs, and positions him as a direct danger to the safety of his employees if this is allowed to happen. So far nowhere else has it been fully explored why.”