The South Florida Improvisers Facebook Page administrators are discontinuing their partnership with Villain Theater in Little Haiti, Comedy School Drop Outs and any group hosting Jonathan Cabrera and Michael Schiavinato.
The South Florida Improvisers are a community of people dedicated to creating safe spaces for improvisers and positive places of creativity in the South Florida Market.
Dear Friends of Villain Theater;
It has come to our attention that anonymous messages and a message from Nathalie Galde have been circulated, alleging that Jonathan Cabrera at Villain Theater engaged in sexual harassment.
None of the people at Villain Theater, whether actors or otherwise, have ever reported to us that they were victims of sexual harassment at Villain Theater.
The accusations in the e-mails are unsubstantiated, malicious, and possibly made to damage the reputation of Villain Theater. We have written proof that the accusations posed by Ms. Galde are false. We have proof in which Ms. Galde, in her own words, said “this is not about [Jonathan Cabrera], this is about [Villain Theater].”
Villain Theater challenges Ms. Galde and the person(s) making these accusations to provide proof to substantiate their claims.
Villain Theater condemns in the strongest possible terms sexual harassment and, were sexual harassment to ever occur at Villain Theater in the future, the person or persons guilty of sexual harassment will be dismissed from Villain Theater immediately.
We are disappointed that Villain Theater has been removed from the South Florida Improvisers Facebook group without Villain Theater being asked about these allegations directly. The fact that this decision was made without any contact with Villain Theater calls into question the decision-making of the group and their willingness to come to conclusions without all of the facts. In our opinion, if we are to collaborate as an artistic community, there should be at least this base level of respect for each other.
We also would like to highlight three instances where this group and/or individuals in this group have acted in what seems to be a contradictory manner:
1) When Nicholas Riggs was the subject of a Title IX investigation, this group made no effort to condemn him publicly or privately. The Title IX investigation found that Mr. Riggs and his wife Hannah Prince had leveraged their position working for a university to commit criminal acts against students. These students then filed complaints to appropriate authorities, an investigation was held, and Riggs and Prince were removed from their positions. These were legitimate criminal allegations handled by appropriate authorities. Yet, this group still avoids the subject and continues to support Riggs and Prince. This was not the same treatment that Villain Theater has received for unproven allegations.
2) Ms. Galde’s allegations are false, and by making such false claims she is perpetuating a culture where real victims are not heard. She has very easily manipulated some all-too-eager members of this group to condemn Villain Theater without a single name, substantiated detail, or criminal allegation being raised. It seems rather obvious that there is a predisposition to condemn Villain Theater. This just provided the latest opportunity. Ms. Galde is not part of South Florida or it’s improvisers. When Carlos Rivera condemned Just The Funny from Chicago, this group removed the ability for him to post in our groups, and eventually removed a group entirely to destroy any past evidence of his negative interactions. Ms. Galde is doing the same thing, yet she is met with complicity by some members of this group.
3) At the last improv summit in Boca Raton, Anthony Francis made an agenda point to condemn the tone of a private conversation in a car ride returning from Tampa Improv Festival that included Mr. Cabrera. He decided to leave out key details of that story for his own benefit. Anthony Francis was recording a podcast with the group CSD in the car the night that he alleges to have been victim of a “negative” conversation. Because there is a podcast recording of the conversation there is proof that Anthony Francis was an equal participant in the negative conversation that he then chose to condemn at the Improv Summit meeting. In the podcast, it is clear that all participants are intoxicated (except for the driver) and there are many sexist remarks made by Mr. Francis and the group in the recording. The CSD group decided that the recording was not worth releasing, but it still exists.
These examples are further proof that there seems to be an ulterior motive to the allegations against Villain Theater and the willingness of this group to condemn Villain Theater while pretending to have moral high ground.
If the group does not take action against Ms. Galde, then this group is accomplice of Ms. Galde’s false allegations of sexual harassment in an attempt to defame a theater in their own improv community.
The false accusations against Jonathan Cabrera have caused him considerable emotional harm, something that those who perpetrated these accusations are now culpable for. This is real harassment that can be legally prosecuted. Because of this harassment, Mr. Cabrera has decided to quit performing. Mr. Cabrera has performed at all of our theaters, for the artistic and monetary benefit of all the theaters in this group, yet this group is quick to condemn him without formal allegations.
This Improv Directors group was put together to promote improvisational theater in our community for the benefit of the community. The group was not constructed to act as a regulating board or to influence the management of each others’ theaters.
No one in this group is qualified to investigate or resolve matters of sexual harassment or criminality. These types of false accusations could happen at any of our theaters. The only appropriate authorities are legal authorities.
We appreciate to have been informed of this malicious campaign against Villain Theater. We intend to investigate the source of the scurrilous allegations in the e-mails and the removal of Villain Theater from the South Florida Improvisers page with a view to take whatever legal action is available to us.
Sincerely,
Peter J. Mir
CEO of Villain Theater
I have read multiple posts online about how women have been treated, and I believe them without question. There is obviously a lot of pain that Jonny has caused. I do not condone what Jonny has done, not only do I not condone it I will not tolerate or support anyone who disrespects or assaults women, If someone did this to anyone I love or my family I would be outraged. I have parted ways with Jonny.
Hello,
I would like to say first and foremost that I have made a lot of mistakes in the past and this is by far the worst one. I have hurt a lot of people in many ways and have caused an ordeal for my friends, family, and most of all the women I have hurt.
I take full responsibility for my actions and blame myself for not being upfront with Villain Theater.
I would like to sincerely apologize to all the women I have harrassed. You are all better than how I treated you. If anyone would like an apology face to face, please let Kathleen Kenny know.
I am working on fixing myself through therapy and have left improv entirely. To the entire improv community and the directors, I am sincerely sorry for having to put all of you through this. This community deserves to be a fun, safe place for people to come together and have fun and it it’s the exact opposite that I did.
Thank you all for what you have done. Continue to make South Florida Improv a safe place for all performers.
Jonathan Cabrera