Canceled performances and contracts: What happened when a Twin Cities actor discovered allegations against fired North Dakota theater teacher

A facilitator who was fired from Fargo South High School in started a theater company in the Twin Cities this year only to have the run of the company s first show cut short when an actor in the production identified out about his past In July the Fargo School Board voted unanimously to fire Kevin Kennedy for misconduct and inappropriate behavior according to Valley View News Live According to the outlet s reporting the North Dakota district received at least six different complaints about Kennedy during a three year period A multitude of of the complaints claim Kennedy had crossed boundaries with students and created an uncomfortable learning setting according to a different Valley View News article Kennedy has since moved to the Twin Cities with his wife and this past March held auditions for Kennedy s Cue Line Productions first show in the area called The Bakken which opened at the Historic Mounds Theatre earlier this month One of the actors in the show Nora Targonski-O Brien was unsettled by two comments the director made one during the rehearsal process and another in her dressing room at the show s second performance which prompted her to Google him That s when she read news reports about Kennedy s past behavior and decided to quit the show the next morning she declared Cue Line Productions canceled the remaining performances according to Krista Schnelle board member of Historic Mounds Theatre Soon the company also lost its venue for the Minnesota Fringe Festival when Arts Nest the nonprofit that runs the Phoenix Theatre canceled the company s contract Due to region concerns of current and former behavior Arts Nest cancelled the rental contract and returned Cue Line s deposit explained Jenna Papke executive director of The Arts Nest Originally from the Twin Cities Kennedy was hired at Fargo South High School as an English and drama lecturer in and also directed and coached numerous plays and musicals sketch comedy shows and an improv troupe during his time there He disputes the accusations against him and has announced that of the pieces of evidence used by the school district all but two were thrown out by the hearing judge He also noted that one board member recused themselves from the hearing and another wasn t present I talked to Kennedy over the phone and requested him why he didn t tell cast members that didn t know him about what happened in Fargo He advised me he was at a point where he just needed to move on with his life Kevin Kennedy Credit Fargo Residents Schools Put yourself in my shoes for a second he reported You re having auditions and you have people there and say OK before you audition I just want everybody to know that I was accused of all these horrific things They weren t true they didn t happen but I lost my job over it OK let s read the script now I sought him about various of the accusations against him like had he appealed a scholar if she had ever been demanded for nude photos Kennedy explained me a pupil had entered his room during his free period while another novice was in the room and noted I m sick of boys asking for nudes he explained That s when he questioned the participant who had been sending her nudes and advised her to not send any of that type of photo to anyone Another accusation that he touched a participant was taken out of context according to Kennedy We had a scene where this guy had to put his hands around her neck and I was showing him what to do and I was telling him what to do and all this stuff he reported me And she announced that she was extremely uncomfortable I inquired her permission to demonstrate at that time because the other actor had to do it and he was doing it wrong Kennedy explained me he required the young woman for permission to demonstrate the move and that she had explained yes Since his firing he has renewed his North Dakota teaching license and also has applied for a Minnesota teaching license which was granted after an research though he is not in the present teaching he advised me Targonski-O Brien saw the audition notice for The Bakken which Kennedy wrote and directed earlier this spring The play was about a man who returns home after a period away to his hometown near the Bakken oil field The first half of the play centers around the man and his brother and reveals long-held secrets In the second half the main character has a scene with his brother s wife with whom he has had a previous relationship when they were younger The show appealed to Targonski-O Brien because it was only a month-long commitment with the first rehearsals conducted over Zoom and the performances were in a convenient location She was also intrigued by Kennedy s director s note and the character description for the female role I did like something about the arrested enhancement of it she revealed When I saw the director s note I kind of feel like this is someone who s showing themselves at their lowest and blurting out and doing and saying the kind of their majority of basic things Not long into the rehearsal process however Targonski-O Brien was having second thoughts about being in the show She hadn t gotten a contract for her role and felt she wasn t on the same page with the director in regard to the story they were telling and what the characters were thinking and feeling He would just shout over me she declared I questioned him to stop several times It was just a very strange experience overall and I ignored my gut for too long Then one day in a Zoom rehearsal Kennedy encouraged the actors to promote the show on social media Targonski-O Brien informed him she d limit promoting the show to avoid inviting chosen in her work circle including people who were too young for the show s adult material According to Targonski-O Brien Kennedy explained If anything they ll come because your top comes off She was taken aback by the comment You never know how you re going to react to a comment like that You want to think you re going to stand up and walk out and not go to rehearsal ever again but I didn t say anything she revealed Kennedy denied making the comment I absolutely did not say that he commented When we were talking about who to invite she stated she didn t have anybody I petitioned about colleagues and she disclosed they wouldn t come Nothing was reported about students Then another event proved a latest point For the second performance on May Targonski-O Brien had arrived late because of a work event and had informed the stage manager Kennedy came to her dressing room in the middle of the show After a conversation in the dressing room Kennedy again brought up whether the actor could invite people to the show and brought up the middle school-age youth with whom she works Targonski-O Brien responded that inviting young people wouldn t be appropriate given the adult content of the play and also that she had a scene where she appeared wearing only a bra They ll never forget to come to your class she advised me he commented They ll really pay attention to you Kennedy disputed Targonski-O Brien s version of events When I talked to him he reported me that because they only had people in the audience that night he jokingly solicited her to invite the youth she works with to come to the show She kind of looks at me angrily and says This is not an appropriate show for kids They re middle schoolers And I reported I was just joking I m sorry I didn t mean anything he reported But whatever it didn t fly So that was fine So I just left I was joking about the kids coming because the show is not meant for middle school audiences I emailed several people involved with the show but they either didn t respond or disclosed they wouldn t speak to me on the record After their conversation on May Targonski-O Brien went on stage and performed in the second act of the play When she got home she looked online and discovered the news reports about Kennedy s firing in Fargo The next morning she talked with a friend and after that decided to quit the production The next day Targonski-O Brien posted about her experience on a Facebook group for the Twin Cities theater group It has come to my attention that a approved predator is attempting to hide within our TC theater region she wrote Kennedy responded to the post which is a different approach from what he did in Fargo When he was suspended without pay in April and fired several months later he was advised by his lawyer to not say anything I just had to bite my tongue because I got fired in March and I had to wait till my hearing in June he announced There was kind of an explosion in March and then it kind of died down and then there was reignited in June in the papers and stuff like that This time he revealed he demanded to give his side of the story I was like I have to respond he noted So that s why I wrote that long Facebook response and I ve had various people reach out to me but you know it doesn t matter what you say People are going to believe what they want to believe there s nothing you can do about that In spite of what happened Kennedy wants to continue writing and producing shows though he doesn t plan to teach anymore I think those days are done he noted I just I don t know that I can go back into that The post Canceled performances and contracts What happened when a Twin Cities actor discovered assertions against fired North Dakota theater guide appeared first on MinnPost