Filmmaker, child actor's parent reacts to new charges against former CTC stagehand
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An ex-Children's Theatre Company employee, Ricky McAllister, has been indicted by a federal grand jury on two counts of child pornography.
The new charges are stirring up dark memories of an explosive child sex abuse scandal from the 1970s and ‘80s.
Filmmaker Norah Shapiro spoke with survivors who broke their silence and told their story in the documentary “MAGIC & MONSTERS,” which debuted last year. Shapiro, who is also a parent of a child actor who worked with McAllister at CTC, joined Cathy Wurzer on Morning Edition Thursday.
“What stood out to me about what they had to say was the pain, not just from what happened to them originally, but from the erasure of what had happened to them by how the institution responded in the years following what happened to them,” Shapiro said about the survivors from the ‘70s.
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CTC called the current allegations against McCallister “troubling and also very different from the historic abuse.” The theatre says it is cooperating with law enforcement, McCallister hasn’t been employed by CTC since June of last year, and that he passed all background checks “as recently as 2023, had a clean employment record at CTC for 24 years, and is not accused of having abused any CTC student or community member.”
Shapiro said McCallister interacted directly with her son in multiple productions.
“I was awakened by a text from a friend with a screen grab of the email that had gone out the night before to stakeholders. I, as a parent of a former child actor, did not receive that, but I can also tell you that my son did not receive that email. There was a tone in that email that was all about protecting yet again their reputation,” she said.
CTC told MPR News it’s aware of one parent “whose email address was unfortunately mistyped in the letter to parents and caregivers. We regret this error and thankfully had an opportunity to connect with the family in person to apologize.”
When CTC settled with survivors in 2019, they committed to creating a community council, being transparent about past abuse, annual child safety training and a “survivor fund.” From her vantage point, Shapiro isn’t convinced the culture has changed substantially.
“I can only respond to what I see and what I see again in this latest instance,” she said. “I think it's the same thing, which is giving lip service to caring ultimately about children's safety, but when push comes to shove, not doing the work.”
Listen to the conversation with Shapiro by clicking the player button above.
“MAGIC & MONSTERS” is available to stream through July 1.
