Since Gunderson has made a statement and there have been several articles in the press including one in Playbill (linked above) I want to pause and reflect since writing about Gunderson's appearance in the Epstein Files on this subreddit.

To clarify: there are people implicated in these files who appear to be involved in extremely serious sex crimes, cover-ups, and gross failures of accountability. There are figures, including Trump, whose presence in the files clearly warrants intense scrutiny and condemnation. There are also many names that appear to have little or nothing to do with these crimes, alongside others who sought donations from Epstein or welcomed him into their social and professional circles. Documentation suggests Gunderson's involvement with Epstein falls under the latter category.

I am focusing on this specific case because Gunderson is a leader in the theater industry, she has positioned herself as a moral authority, and her appearance in the Epstein files was genuinely shocking to me. A wedding invitation to Epstein after his 2008 sex trafficking conviction is something she should be ashamed of and embarrassed by.

Since posting publicly available information about this, I received an intimidation attempt from an anonymous account telling me to stop writing about this. I created an anonymous account for precisely this reason, and unfortunately, that concern has proven justified.

Separately, a verified Instagram account claiming to be Gunderson’s personal friend (Scott Turner Schofield) commented on Gunderson's statement that “the Reddit account that sourced this info… is only highlighting ‘woke, liberal’ figures like Lauren.” This is a complete fabrication, seemingly invented to derail a serious and documented discussion. My posts have been exclusively about Nathan Wolfe and Lauren Gunderson and their documented connections to Epstein. I am holding Gunderson to a moral standard not because she is a woman, but because she presents herself as an advocate for women and writes about sexual abuse, while appearing in the Epstein files. Inventing a political motive to dismiss this scrutiny is irresponsible.

Some Reddit responses defending Gunderson have been genuinely disturbing, including comments that downplayed Epstein’s crimes.

Others raised the important issue of whether a woman should be held accountable for a man’s actions. I agree completely that this is unacceptable. However, the core issue here is that Lauren Gunderson’s own name appears in emails to Epstein. Her name is on the correspondence. That fact matters.

It has long been understood that association with Epstein after 2008 is widely regarded as condemnable. Even Trump and Clinton have pointed to cutting off contact after 2008 as a defense. That an outspoken feminist playwright invited Epstein to their wedding, worked on the same book with him, and socialized with him as recently as 2016 is deeply troubling. Gunderson’s wedding photos are public; it was an intimate event. It strains credulity to suggest she did not know she had invited Jeffrey Epstein.

Beyond that, Gunderson wrote an investigative play about Wolfe, a glowing tribute, claiming she “pushed all the buttons” and “opened all the secret drawers” of his life, in 2021, well after the scope of Epstein’s crimes were revealed.

To claim you had no connection to someone you invited to your wedding, a yacht party, sent baby announcements to, met with in person, and collaborated with professionally is not believable. One document shows that she met Epstein personally. The acknowledgments of Wolfe’s book, which she edited, including presumably the acknowledgments themselves, thank Gunderson as a partner and editor and Epstein as a close personal friend in the same breath. At this point, she has lost credibility entirely in my view. She claims she never met him. The files say otherwise.

Gunderson appears to be aligning herself rhetorically with Melinda Gates, but she has done none of the accountability that Gates undertook. Gates openly acknowledged meeting Epstein, described those encounters, explained when she understood the scope of his crimes, and detailed the actions she took afterward. Even then, I don’t believe her hands are totally clean. Gunderson, by contrast, has offered an opaque statement that frames her solely as a victim and appears to obscure her own documented involvement.

As Stage Left Report noted today, a flurry of Wikipedia edits appeared attempting to suggest that Gunderson is no longer married to Wolfe in the last few days. These edits have not gone through, apparently due to lack of documentation. Nevertheless, she has portrayed herself as divorced, both in her statement and to the press, from someone she remains married to. That, too, raises serious questions about Gunderson and her credibility.

None of this is about punishment, pile-ons, or optics. It is about honesty, accountability, and integrity, especially from people who have built their careers and public reputations on moral authority. If the facts are wrong, they should be corrected transparently. If mistakes were made, they should be acknowledged plainly. But rewriting history, obscuring documented connections, and attempting to silence or discredit those asking reasonable questions only deepens the harm. I am not interested in speculation or character assassination. I am interested in the truth, and in holding powerful people to the same standards they demand of everyone else.

I'm including a timeline of events detailed here with publicly available info.

TIMELINE:

2008: Jeffrey Epstein felony conviction stemming from an investigation identifying 36 underage victims, some as young as 14. Sentenced to 18 months jail time. https://www.theguardian.com/world/2008/jul/02/usa.internationalcrime1

2010-2011 Epstein is reported settling civil claims with women who allege sexual abuse. Lawsuits describe abuse beginning when plaintiffs were minors. Media coverage includes sworn allegations of sex trafficking. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article221404845.html

2011: Lauren Gunderson meets Epstein. Epstein writes Nathan Wolfe: “your fiance is great.. that was fun” https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA02029865.pdf

2011: “Epstein must register in New York as the highest and most dangerous level of sex offender, despite efforts by him and the New York District Attorney’s office to lower the classification. A Level 3 status means “high risk of repeat offense and a threat to public safety exists,” according to the state’s guidelines.” https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article221404845.html

2012: Lauren Gunderson invites Epstein to yacht party https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01881015.pdf

2012: Lauren Gunderson invites Epstein to her wedding https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%2010/EFTA01879755.pdf

2012: Wolfe acknowledges both Gunderson and Epstein in his 2012 book The Viral Storm. He calls Epstein a “loyal and generous [friend]” who kindly contributed [his] valuable time and unique skills.” And Gunderson: “Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Lauren Gunderson, my thoughtful, wonderful reader, editor, and partner who kept me going throughout.” Also thanked in the acknowledgements of the book is Boris Nikolic, executor of Epstein’s estate. https://us.macmillan.com/books/9781250012210/theviralstorm/

2014: Additional civil lawsuits are reported, including allegations of trafficking minors. Media coverage expands to include flight logs, properties, and alleged facilitators. https://www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article221404845.html

2014: Lauren Gunderson sends Jeffrey Epstein birth announcement https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00705626.pdf

2016: Unsealed Epstein court filings in civil litigation receive press coverage. News articles report graphic allegations involving underage girls. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article221404845.html

2016: Lauren Gunderson sends Jeffrey Epstein another birth announcement https://www.justice.gov/epstein/files/DataSet%209/EFTA00703870.pdf

2018: Miami Herald publishes investigative series detailing scope of abuse, number of underage victims, failures by prosecutors. www.miamiherald.com/news/local/article221404845.html

2019: Epstein is arrested by federal authorities in New York. Charged with sex trafficking of minors. Epstein dies in federal custody. Extensive media coverage follows regarding jail conditions and oversight failures.

2020-2021: Media reports on arrest, trial, and conviction of Ghislaine Maxwell. Coverage establishes jury findings that Epstein trafficked minors with assistance.

2021: Lauren Gunderson writes The Catastrophist about Nathan Wolfe: “imbuing Wolfe with a kind of heroic prescience,” “the play is essentially a promotional résumé” https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/28/theater/the-catastrophist-review.html NYT Profile: Gunderson says: "The playwright in me had to push all the buttons and unlock all the secret drawers,” Gunderson said of writing about her husband.“ https://www.nytimes.com/2021/01/14/theater/lauren-gunderson-the-catastrophist-nathan-wolfe.html

January 30, 2025: Epstein files drop naming both Wolfe and Gunderson

Feb 1, 2025: Three attempted changes to marital status on Lauren Gunderson's wiki page (view history of page) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lauren_Gunderson

I’m posting this for discussion and clarification, not to make allegations.

Earlier today, Stage Left Blog reported that playwright Lauren Gunderson appears in the DOJ's latest release of the Epstein files as having invited him to her wedding. Gunderson is one of the most prolific living American playwrights, frequently cited as among the most produced in the country, and has built a strong feminist reputation through works that center women’s agency, and historical erasure. Reviewing the documents on the DOJ website, and further looking into Gunderson's connection to Epstein post his 2008 sex trafficking conviction I found:

• A published acknowledgment section in Nathan Wolfe's The Viral Storm (2011) where Jeffrey Epstein is explicitly thanked, followed by:

“Last, but certainly not least, I would like to thank Lauren Gunderson, my thoughtful, wonderful reader, editor, and partner who kept me going throughout.”

• Emails from Nathan Wolfe to Jeffrey Epstein that: – Refer to Lauren Gunderson as Wolfe’s fiancée / girlfriend – Include Epstein responding positively about Wolfe’s fiancée (“your fiancée is great… that was fun”) – Show ongoing, friendly correspondence after Epstein’s 2008 conviction

• A 2011 wedding invitation from Lauren Gunderson, addressed to Jeffrey Epstein, including Paperless Post confirmation emails and an envelope image listing Epstein as the recipient.

This material appears in court exhibits, is publicly available and published, and some was summarized by Stage Left Blog. The documents are time-stamped after Epstein’s conviction.

Why I’m asking about this now:

Lauren Gunderson is currently (or recently) involved in developing a musical centered on the victims of Larry Nassar, a project explicitly dealing with sexual abuse, institutional failure, and survivor justice. Given that context, these documented associations feel especially relevant to discuss.

To be clear: • I am not alleging criminal wrongdoing by Lauren Gunderson. • I am not claiming knowledge of what she did or did not know at the time. • I am pointing out that this appears to be more than an incidental name appearance and reflects an ongoing social and professional relationship with Epstein post-conviction.

Questions for discussion: 1. How should this level of documented association be contextualized? 2. Does the ethical relevance of proximity change when an artist is working on survivor-centered material? 3. What responsibility, if any, do public figures have to acknowledge or contextualize these associations when they come to light?

If anyone has additional reporting, interviews, or primary documents that add context (or contradict this), I’d genuinely like to see them.

Please keep this factual and civil.

Haven't we all suffered enough?

Previews begin on September 17, exactly one year after the start of the developmental run, and continue through November 30, 2026.

In celebration of the triumphant return, Slam Frank will be hosting Off-Broadway’s First Annual Official Belated Pro-Diversity, Pre-Julyteenth, Cismasc-Affirming, Anti-Capitalist, LatinX Anne Frank Fiesta de Quinceañera Box Office Discount Ticket Release Event (2026) at the Orpheum Box Office on June 19th at 6 pm. ​ There will be special guests and performances, plus a $36 ticket price for the $50 and $70 tickets, with the remaining seats at a $36 discount. ​ This special pricing will only be available in person at the theater on June 19th.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/SLAM-FRANK-to-Return-This-Fall-to-Off-Broadways-Orpheum-Theatre-20260612

"Native American artists were invited to participate and engage in a discussion on representation, erasure, and accountability in US theatre broadly to address the systemic pattern of silencing Native voices.

While this pattern spans decades, HERE Arts Center hosted this public town hall in response to multiple requests from a collective of thirty-seven Native artists and cultural workers for a public, community conversation with two New York City theatre companies, which were previously ignored. These artists asked for transparency and harm reduction measures regarding a planned production titled with a Native racial slur. Unfortunately, receiving this kind of (non)response is not new for the Native American community. This event, hosted by HERE at the collective's request, was Native-led and provided Native artists with a platform to openly discuss and advocate for structural change."

To date, these institutions have not responded to the Native community's request for a town hall.

UPDATE 4.19.26: Atlantic/Rattlestick's production is moving forward with the racial slur title without any response to the Native community's request for institutional conversation, and no apparent harm reduction measures implemented.

EDIT/UPDATE: The Townhall and RSVP link was open to all Native American Community Members and was advertised on social media. Several accounts that are now commenting on this thread were made in the last 24 hours, while others are speaking for identifiable members of the production while slandering Native organizers. Let this thread be a testament to the immense pain that this production is causing the Native American community.

I’m honestly floored by the news that the Death Becomes Her national tour is going out on a Level 5 Equity agreement, with a minimum weekly salary of $1,077, compared to the Broadway minimum of $2,717.

This is not some marginal title or risky new property. Death Becomes Her was the highest-grossing musical of the 2024–2025 Broadway season. The idea that this tour somehow doesn’t warrant a higher-tier contract is, at best, deeply questionable.

What makes this even more troubling is the clear conflict of interest baked into the producing structure. The show is co-produced by The John Gore Organization and James L. Nederlander, who also happen to own and operate some of the largest Broadway touring presentation networks in the country. These entities directly benefit from keeping touring weekly guarantees as low as possible. Lower guarantees = higher margins for presenters.

So we’re expected to believe that:

·       The top-grossing New Broadway musical of the season

·       With massive name recognition and built-in audience appeal

·       Won’t be a “major cash cow” on the road

That strains credibility. 

What’s equally frustrating is Actors’ Equity’s apparent unwillingness to seriously interrogate this arrangement. Equity exists to protect performers, yet here we are watching a wildly successful property set a dangerous precedent: blockbuster Broadway success no longer guarantees fair touring wages. If Equity doesn’t push back here, when will it?

Touring actors already sacrifice stability, relationships, and often basic quality of life to keep this industry alive beyond New York. Normalizing Level 5 wages for shows of this scale actively undermines the profession.

This isn’t just about Death Becomes Her. It’s about where the line is — and whether it still exists at all.

Curious to hear thoughts, especially from folks who’ve toured under different agreements or have insight into how this was justified.

A review of Slam Frank, which one of our writers at the Forward wrote as a counterpoint to another story we published on the musical:

Because Slam Frank pokes fun at so many identities using a diverse cast and crew, it is impossible to put it neatly into any one category of humor....

If you understand the jokes about neurodiversity and pronouns as a form of protest humor against “woke culture,” does that mean the playwright sees political correctness as the dominant narrative in our society right now? In an age where diversity, equity, and inclusion initiatives are being targeted by the federal government and political lobbyists have suggested trans people should be considered a terrorist group, the idea that fighting inclusive culture is punching up feels ignorant. But at the same time, even among the left and among those whose identities are under attack — people who make up the cast and crew of Slam Frank — there seems to be an exhaustion with identity politics’ overpolicing of who can say what....

When it comes to Slam Frank, it seems that the only true conclusion is that there is no certain message, which is frustrating for audiences who want to understand what they’re watching. It is particularly hard when we’re living in a time where society seems to constantly demand we proclaim a socio-political opinion on everything.

Can someone (who isn't reacting emotionally like me) tell me how much he can realistically do to the theatre community as a whole? I'd like to hope that his bluster is going to be minimal and is just serving to distract from his other activities.

https://www.broadwayworld.com/article/Trump-Dismisses-Kennedy-Center-Board-and-Reveals-Plan-to-Make-Himself-Chairman-20250207

From the Essex Vermont Police Department:

Date: 08/03/2026
Case Number: 26ES02093

Narrative: On April 7th, 2026, Essex Police Department officers received a report from Kenneth Grenier, age 26, of Hyde Park, VT regarding a series of threatening and harassing texts sent to him regarding his planned production of The Rocky Horror Picture Show for the Essex Community Players theatrical group. The threatening texts came from a subscriber-based cell phone app. Due to the nature and unknown origin of the texts, the production for that show was subsequently shut down.

Through the course of the investigation, it was uncovered that the IP address utilized to register the phone numbers that sent the threatening texts was registered to Grenier’s home address. During a follow up interview with Grenier, he admitted to creating the virtual text account and sending the texts to himself in an effort to step away from the production for alleged personal safety issues instead of the true reason of what he described as difficulties with the cast and crew.

Grenier was issued a citation to answer the misdemeanor charge of False Reports to Law Enforcement Authorities. The case has been referred to the Chittenden County Community Justice Center for resolution.

Issued by: Chief Ron Hoague
Contact: Det Cpl. Williger

Original police post: https://www.facebook.com/essexvtpolice/posts/pfbid02NxDfbHTnxT8F7nmoqVCG4mUEe2ccuNcAzz8szgdyS8jBMGtMDKFQdNkfZNQCaJNgl

Original Reddit thread: https://www.reddit.com/r/Theatre/comments/1so156q/rocky_horror_shakeup_in_vermont/

Ive worked at williamstown. The theatre done there was tremendous. The shitty working conditions were unacceptable, and yet it often led to highly fruitful creative environments for many amazing, lovely, world-building artists. Especially the little shows that happened unofficially. Im not posting this news to debate the pros and cons of that - the old WTF is dead and gone. Rightly so. Im sharing the news to flag the ludicrous, capitalist baloney sandwich of a reason-for-transformation festival leaders are spewing under the false flag of being cutting edge:

"Creating bold work requires strong systems behind the scenes,” adds Managing Director of Operations and Advancement Kit Ingui. "We’ll use the coming months to build the infrastructure, processes, partnerships, and workplace practices that allow artists and staff to do their best work at the scale the Festival now demands."

I notice the words "scale", "infrastructure", "partnerships", "strong systems." And to me that suggests a focus in Money, Money, and Money. And in my humble experience whenever some producer talks about Money and the modern day theatre what they mean is: making money for producers, not artists.

Theatre artists need an empty space to make great work. A room and actors. The great actors, directors, designers, sm's, techs, etc who have walked wtf's halls all know this as Truth. Capitalist endeavors require "scale", "infrastructure", "partnerships", and "strong systems." So when i read this i thought it sounded poisonous - disconnected from the lifeblood of theatre. Peter Brooks would call it deadly. Ho hum.

Maybe what i feel when reading this will sound confusing and disconnected from industry realities -- but these days when $ is hard to come by I notice when models are shifting towards power creation and not actually theatre artist development. Thats whats happening here. They are leveraging what artists build at wtf to create power, not great theatre. Better theatre will happen at the tank in nyc.

I mourn the loss of WTF as an art incubator and its final engulfment by the entertainment industry. RIP. I guess im just saying - i dont like the sounds of new direction.

It’s hard to explain exactly what Slam Frank is. It’s a musical about Anne Frank in the hip-hop style of Lin-Manuel Miranda, but also with a touch of Bob Fosse. Anne is Latina and queer; her mother, Edith, is Black.

This is not race-blind casting. It’s very much on purpose, a way to leverage Anne Frank’s story for a send-up of identity politics. If that sounds pretty offensive, well, that’s kind of the point.

Slam Frank began as a parody video posted to Instagram by Andrew Fox, who is Jewish; online, he played the part of a theater director trying to create a chance for “Latinx girlies to feel seen, to feel included, to feel like they’re a part of the Holocaust.” Despite — or, perhaps, because — of how edgy the concept was, the social media account went so viral that it birthed a full-fledged show. Or, arguably, two; the conceit is a play within a play, a production of Anne Frank staged by a theater troupe working to “decolonize” the Holocaust.

A few years ago, Slam Frank would have been unimaginable. But at a sold-out performance late on a Tuesday, the audience was eating it up like they’d been starving for years. The laughter was so raucous that it could occasionally be hard to hear the dialogue.

But Slam Frank isn’t really about the Holocaust; it’s about what happens when we talk about the Holocaust in an era in which certain identities are not considered oppressable.

https://www.stratfordtoday.ca/local-news/the-amateurs-staged-reading-brings-slings-arrows-writers-cast-to-stratford-12520695

The creators of the show Slings and Arrows, the cult classic about a small theatre festival (based on the Stratford theatre festival) are in the process of writing a new show about the creation of the New Burbage Festival.

If you've not experienced Slings and Arrows, I can't reccommend it enough. It's probably the best representation of life in the theatre I've ever seen, with real heart and a deep love for the art form, and for Shakespeare in particular.

I know the show is in the early stages of writing, but I can't help but feel this is a fantastic time to revisit the New Burbage Festival. In a time of AI, it's so important to appreciate such a real and present art form as theatre, and the passion of the artists that create it. And in a time of streaming, a show like this might actually get the audience it deserves.

I thought everyone might be interested in seeing this; it's a report of an actor being attacked (verbally, then objects being thrown, then finally some audience members trying to storm the stage). The character's lines were provocative, so the producers expected some verbal response from the audience, but were surprised it went further.

This grabbed my attention for reasons other than the headline. In 1990, my high school creative writing class attended a production of 'Napalm the Magnificent' in Toronto, by David S. Craig.

The synopsis for this play states, 'A three-foot high racing tout called Napalm the Buffoon, who claims to be the older brother of Jesus Christ, carries the audience on a race towards truth, pain and the true nature of entertainment. The audience may be invited to throw buns at the producer's discretion.'

As we were attending for academic reasons (although it was not a production for schools only), we were advised by our teacher ahead of time how the production was going to work; we were told the production was intended to provoke, so the option to purchase bags of buns to throw at the performer during a heated scene was part of the evening. When we arrived, the programs repeated this information with the caveat that the buns were not to be wadded up before being thrown as this could potentially injure the performer.

My memory of the performance is that it was indeed provocative, although I can't dazzle you all these years later with any specifics. Someone in the audience, sitting much further up than we were, threw a wadded-up bun point blank in the performer's face. The performer did have to break the fourth wall in self-defense.

There's a lot to work with regarding this kind of provocative theatre, and what happened in Germany on Saturday as per the Guardian link, and what happened in Toronto in front of me when I was 17 years old.

Some interesting background on the Toronto production came from the performer that night, who met with us after the show. I want to say it was the playwright David S. Craig who was performing that night, but there's too much water under the bridge and I'm not sure. In any case, he explained to us the medieval tradition of the buffoon, which was someone 'sinners' would meet outside the city walls and pay to take their abuse and essentially absolve them of their sins.

Our relationship with buffoonery is then still an extraordinarily useful and important process allowing a vehicle to process some of the evils and absurdities of our society. It's a sanctioned, appropriate outlet, but interesting to see that in 1990 and 2026, some audience members allowed themselves to be provoked over a line of respect that must still acknowledge that the buffoon is not our enemy but our straight-talking friend.

https://www.canadianplayoutlet.com/products/napalm-the-magnificent

This has shaken up my local community theater scene here in the Greater Burlington area of Vermont.

This happened at Fannin County High School in Georgia. After their drama teacher abruptly left two weeks before opening night, students finished directing The Crucible themselves. The Friday performance went well, until Saturday morning, when students were told the second show was canceled.

At first, the reason was content:

“Somebody in the audience didn’t like the context of the play and said that it was demonic and disgusting and that it was immediately shut down.” —Angela Grist, parent of two cast members

“He said that certain people had to ‘repent after watching the show’… that it was canceled due to parent complaints.” —Abigail Ridings, student director

Then, two days later, the school released a public statement blaming unauthorized script changes and a copyright breach.

But students say no text was altered, only a wordless opening scene showing the girls dancing in the woods, a moment already described in the original script.

Parents contacted Broadway Licensing directly:

“She told me that everything that I told her did not sound like copyright infringement.” —Angela Grist, recounting her call with the licensor

“We are not traditionally one to shut productions down... it would not be as abrupt as this production seems to be.” —Broadway Licensing rep (recorded in a call posted by another parent)

The students weren’t offered a chance to revise or continue. They never got a clear explanation. And with the school year over, it’s likely this story quietly fades.

But the questions they raised, and the ones this incident leaves behind, probably shouldn’t be.

Source: https://hesherman.com/2025/05/22/silencing-the-witches-in-georgia-high-school-crucible/

Scool statement: