Darrell W. Cox, coartistic director of the now-closed Profiles Theatre, has denied accusations of abuse leveled against him by former actors and crew members in last week’s Reader cover story.
In addition, three more actors have come forward since the Reader‘s investigation was published to share their previously untold stories of onstage violence and lack of supervision at Profiles: Kevin Bigley and Emily Vajda, who were both part of Killer Joe, and Larry Neumann Jr., who appeared with Cox in In God’s Hat in 2013.
In the same scene, Cox was supposed to pretend to choke Bigley from behind and then strangle him with a phone cord. As R&D had choreographed the scene, Bigley’s neck was supposed to rest in the crook of Cox’s elbow so he wouldn’t be hurt. “As he lost himself in the part,” Bigley says, “he began to actually choke me. I was at his mercy. I would try to hold myself up. There was more and more choking and one time I thought, ‘Holy shit, I’m in danger.’ He starts the choke, and then he doesn’t do it. He wraps the cord around my neck and holds it and starts to walk backwards and I really choked.”
Neumann says he stood onstage and stared at Cox until Cox released him. Backstage after the show, he says, Cox apologized, and it never happened again. Now Neumann says he’s sorry he didn’t speak up sooner.
The incident between Cox and Neumann recalls an account actor Hans Fleischmann gave the Reader of an incident that occurred during a 2008 performance of In a Dark Dark House. Midway through the run of the show, Fleischmann said, he was nominated for a Jeff Award while Cox was not. Cox’s behavior changed abruptly after that, Fleischmann said. One night, Fleischmann remembered, Cox got physical: “I don’t remember if it was a push or grab, but it was violent, and it was for no reason. It wasn’t in the script. We weren’t supposed to be fighting. There was no reason other than this personal anger.”
