Way Too Much Drama In The Drama Department

CONTENT WARNING: Sexual Harassment

Back when I was a theater major, I had a lesbian professor who openly shamed the non-LGBT+ students for partying and exploring adulthood while praising the LGBT+ students for doing the same thing. Maybe it was her way of evening out years of homophobia, but it really only made anyone who wasn’t out (like me) or was straight dislike and avoid everything she was involved in.

During one of our shows, a set piece broke and needed to be repaired before the next night. [Professor] gathered the entire cast and crew.

Professor: “We need about five people to stay tonight to fix this.”

Friend: *Whispering to me* “Are you staying?”

[Professor] was still talking but she was looking at us out of the corner of her eye.

I gave a small shake of my head to say I was not.

Professor: *Louder* “If you think you have something more important to do tonight, like [My Name] over there, think again. This is your future.”

I walked away. My parents drove three hours to see me in the show and have dinner with me; I wasn’t going to stick around. The set did get fixed, but only because they offered extra credit to anyone who stayed.

Years later, at a reunion, someone brought [Professor] up and asked what happened to her. She had been quietly dismissed from the faculty after some of the students alleged that she had offered to help them figure out their sexuality by sleeping with them.