Music Director Admits Faking Threats That Shut Down ‘Rocky Horror’ Production
by Chris Peterson
Last Spring, the Essex Community Players canceled its production of The Rocky Horror Show after receiving threatening messages directed at members of its team.
Police now say the person behind those messages was the production’s own musical director.
According to the Essex Police Department, Kenneth Grenier, reported receiving threatening and harassing texts connected to the Vermont community theatre production. Investigators traced the virtual phone numbers used to send those messages to an IP address registered to Grenier’s home. Police say Grenier then admitted that he had created the account and sent the messages to himself.
The alleged reason is almost as unbelievable as the scheme itself.
Police say Grenier wanted to use concerns about his personal safety as a reason to leave the production rather than admit that he was having difficulties with members of the cast and crew. He has been cited to answer a misdemeanor charge of making false reports to law enforcement authorities. The matter has been referred to the Chittenden County Community Justice Center.
The production had been rehearsing for roughly 12 weeks and was scheduled to run from April 17 through May 2. After canceling the production, they posted the following statement on their social media.
“We have received a few questions about the unforeseen circumstances we mentioned regarding the cancellation of The Rocky Horror Show on Friday, 04/03/2026.
Just to clarify, threats were made against our production that are currently under investigation by the Essex Police Department. We hope for a swift resolution. In the meantime, a joint decision was made by the production team and the board that, to ensure the safety of everyone concerned, we could not proceed with the production.
We are extremely saddened by this turn of events. Our theater community must remain vibrant, inclusive, and, above all, joyful.”
Essex Community Players is an all-volunteer nonprofit. When the production was canceled, the company lost more than $11,500 that it had expected to recover through ticket and concession sales.
Executive producer Jane Healy has estimated that the actual loss may have been closer to $15,000. Four members of the company’s nine-person board also resigned during the controversy.
The details of the messages show just how deliberate this allegedly was.
Essex Community Players had used gender-blind casting for the production. Every performer cast in the show was reportedly female, transgender, or nonbinary. A female-presenting performer was originally cast to play Rocky as a woman, but Concord Theatricals reminded the company that its licensing agreement prohibited changing the characters’ genders and pronouns.
The production eventually agreed that Rocky would remain a male character, regardless of the performer playing the role.
Then someone began impersonating an actual Concord Theatricals executive.
Kenneth Grenier (Photo: Facebook)
On March 30, Grenier and a board member received messages from someone claiming to be Billie Davis, Concord’s senior vice president of amateur licensing and compliance. The messages threatened to revoke the theatre’s performance rights unless Rocky was recast with a male actor and the script was performed exactly as written. Concord later confirmed that the messages hadn’t come from anyone at the company.
Another message declared that “Patrick and Kenny need to be gone.”
After the production team contacted police, another anonymous message claimed to be from a cast member. It said that director Patrick Cope and Grenier were “weak human beings.” Cope then confronted the cast and asked whether anyone knew who was responsible. No one confessed, and performers were understandably offended that one of them was apparently being accused.
The final message warned, “Oh just you wait for rehearsal tonight. It’s coming, and you deserve it.”
That was enough. The board and production team decided they couldn’t guarantee everyone’s safety and canceled the show.
According to former cast member Jess Wisloski, Grenier had previously complained about people involved with the show in a Facebook group for composers and music directors. Someone captured the since-deleted post and showed it to members of the production. Grenier was confronted and given an opportunity to address the situation directly. Wisloski said he struggled to offer a genuine apology.
Kenneth Grenier (Photo: Facebook)
What makes this story so infuriating to me is that Grenier apparently had another option available to him the entire time.
He could have quit. Instead, police say Grenier created a fake safety crisis because he didn’t want to have that conversation.
I keep thinking about the cast members who spent 12 weeks rehearsing this show. Then they were suddenly told that someone within their own company might be sending threats. Everyone was left wondering whether they would even be safe at rehearsal.
All of it was allegedly manufactured by someone who was supposed to help lead them.
That’s the part I can’t get past.
I hope Essex Community Players pursues every legal avenue available to recover its losses. And I hope every producer, director, and theatre board remembers his name when another résumé comes across their desk.
In my opinion, Kenneth Grenier should never be hired to work on another theatrical production again.
Police say he frightened his colleagues, implicated innocent people, and destroyed months of their work because telling the truth would have been uncomfortable.
That should end his career in theatre.