Costume designer William Ivey Long in New York City in 2016. Long is at the moment dealing with a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault.

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Theo Wargo/Getty Images

Costume designer William Ivey Long in New York City in 2016. Long is at the moment dealing with a civil lawsuit accusing him of sexual assault.

Theo Wargo/Getty Images

In Nov. 2021, NPR reported on allegations of sexual abuse in opposition to one in every of Broadway’s most revered costume designers, William Ivey Long.

The creator of the look of exhibits from Chicago to Hairspray, he’s a six-time Tony winner and previous chairman of the American Theatre Wing, the group that provides out the Tonys. Long additionally oversaw the design of The Lost Colony, a summer time theater manufacturing in North Carolina, for 1 / 4 century. NPR corroborated allegations that Long abused two males who labored on The Lost Colony once they had been faculty college students.

On Wednesday, a kind of males, New York City-based set and costume designer Court Watson, filed a civil swimsuit in opposition to each Long and the Roanoke Island Historical Association (RIHA), the nonprofit that produces The Lost Colony.

In the swimsuit, which was filed in New York State Supreme Court, Watson says he confronted “repeated grooming, sexual harassment, and ultimately rape at the hands of Long, with support from Long’s associates, and RIHA — all of whom worked in conjunction to systematically perpetrate and cover up the sexual abuse being committed at The Lost Colony.”

Watson, who labored at The Lost Colony between 2000 and 2003, filed his swimsuit a day earlier than the New York Adult Survivors Act is ready to expire on Thursday, Thanksgiving Day. The one-year act has allowed alleged survivors of sexual abuse to file civil claims previous the traditional statute of limitations.

In his swimsuit, Watson repeats the accusations that NPR reported two years in the past. They embrace the allegation that in 2002, Long had intercourse with Watson when he was drunk and couldn’t consent. (At the time of that alleged incident, it may not have been acknowledged as a criminal offense underneath North Carolina law.)

On Wednesday afternoon, Long’s lawyer, Pearl Zuchlewski, stated that she was unable to remark as a result of she was unaware of any developments previous to NPR’s request. In 2021, nevertheless, she stated that Long “emphatically denied” all allegations in opposition to him.

RIHA’s attorneys didn’t reply instantly to NPR’s requests for feedback Wednesday. Long supervised the design of The Lost Colony from 1994 till 2019; after RIHA management realized of the allegations in opposition to Long in the summertime of 2020, the designer and the nonprofit agreed that Long would “cut his ties with the production.”

In NPR’s earlier reporting, RIHA stated it performed its personal investigation in opposition to Long within the wake of studying of the accusations, including: “While the [RIHA] investigation did not corroborate specific allegations, it raised serious concerns about the workplace environment. We were determined to do the right thing about these allegations.”

Watson’s lawsuit features a declare that in 2008 — years after the alleged rape — he encountered Long within the hallway of a New York City costume store. He alleges that Long grabbed him by each shoulders and touched his face, “saying words to the effect of ‘My! Don’t you look great. You’ve finally gone through puberty!'” Watson says he was left shaking with nervousness — and on this lawsuit, it’s famous as an alleged incident of “forcible touching.” The swimsuit additionally features a declare of intentional infliction of emotional misery in opposition to each Long and RIHA, resulting from Long “sexually assaulting him, forcibly touching him, and humiliating him.”

Watson’s swimsuit consists of as assist a 2002 lawsuit filed in opposition to RIHA by a former Lost Colony manufacturing supervisor named Mary Elizabeth Stewart. Her swimsuit integrated a number of different severe allegations of sexual misconduct in opposition to Long between 1999 and 2001. In her swimsuit, Stewart said that a number of individuals working at The Lost Colony reported to her that Long had sexually assaulted or harassed them, and that RIHA took no motion in opposition to him; she additionally asserted that when she went to RIHA management and the board to complain about his habits, she was fired.

Stewart’s swimsuit was settled in 2003; NPR has not discovered any file of a police report or prison expenses ever having been filed in reference to the allegations Stewart included in her swimsuit. In 2021, Long’s lawyer, Pearl Zuchlewski, informed NPR that “RIHA never informed [Long] of Stewart’s claim,” and stated that he solely realized of her swimsuit in 2020. Long emphatically denied the allegations included in Stewart’s swimsuit.

In a response filed with the court docket pertaining to Stewart’s swimsuit, RIHA denied most of Stewart’s allegations however did admit that staff had complained about Long’s “abusive behavior.”

According to Court Watson, he and RIHA had been working for months on a settlement however RIHA shut down these talks final Wednesday — a couple of week earlier than the window to file such fits is ready to shut.

In a written assertion to NPR about his swimsuit, Watson stated: “I’m disappointed that even after quietly parting ways with my abuser, the Roanoke Island Historical Association is still choosing to protect him. Despite their months of delay and bad faith, I look forward to public accountability, and want to keep the door open for other survivors to tell their stories. In my own work I will continue to advocate for safe, respectful, diverse spaces where creative risks can be taken without harassment or abuse.”