Alan Stanford has been removed from his job as artistic and executive director of PICT Class Theatre, following an account of alleged sexual misconduct reported in Pittsburgh City Paper.
In a press release, the PICT board of directors announced that the board “determined that it was necessary to make a change in the organization’s leadership and voted to remove Alan Stanford as the Artistic and Executive Director at PICT. Eileen Clancy, Co-President of the theatre’s Board of Directors, will also serve as PICT’s Acting Executive Director until further notice. The Board did not name an Acting Artistic Director.”
While already in rehearsals for a June 18 opening, PICT canceled a production of “The Boys in the Band,” saying the cancellation was due to “insufficient funds to cover production costs.”
City Paper’s story by Amanda Waltz, citing on the record and anonymous sources, quoted a latter source as saying, “Alan Stanford was suspended with pay for 7 weeks for allegations of sexual harassment. I cannot disclose the number of complaints that were filed.”
Stanford took over as head of the former Pittsburgh Irish & Classical Theatre in 2013, when co-founder Andrew Paul was fired after moving to Las Vegas.
The former board president Eugene O’Sullivan said at the time that the vote to replace Paul was “because of his long absences from Pittsburgh and the potential for audience engagement during those months — and the dismissal had nothing to do with PICT’s financial or artistic success,” the Post-Gazette reported.
The company has moved several times, but had in recent years settled into a home at the Fred Rogers Studio at WQED in Oakland.
Stanford was still listed on the PICT website when the email announcement arrived today.
Sharon McCune was hired last year as associate producer for PICT’s 25th anniversary season, and curated the new Expanding the Canon series of readings.
General operations manager Catherine Kolos left the company last month.
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