A deaf women has said she was humiliated by Broadway actor Lillias White, who accused her of recording the musical Hadestown.
Speaking in an emotional video posted to Instagram on Thursday, Samantha Coleman said she was berated twice by Ms White during the performance of Hadestown at the Walter Kerr Theater in New York City.
The actor appeared to have mistaken a closed captioning device used by Ms Coleman to understand what was happening on stage as a device used to record the show, allegedly berating the disabled theatre goer at least twice.
“I’m sure she (Ms White) wasn’t the only person on stage that might have thought that.” said Ms Coleman, a musical fan, on Thursday. “She was however the only person to call me out”.
“My hearing is such that I need captioning devices in order to see a show, and to kind of be ostracised and publicly ridiculed really hurts. It was super embarrassing,” Ms Coleman continued..
Believing Ms White’s actions were a “misunderstanding” and that the 71-year-old actor had not acted with “malice”, Ms Coleman said it was still important to discuss how disabled people are treated in public and when attending Broadway shows in general.
“The people who need to use these devices should feel comfortable and confident in seeing a Broadway show and not be met with shame and embarrassment and anxiety,” Ms Coleman said, appearing visibly emotional.
She added in a caption to the video that she would think twice about using a captioning device in the near future, with her experience acting as a warning to others.
“I desperately hope my story can prevent another horrifying and embarrassing experience for someone else,” Ms Coleman wrote on Instagram. “It was my worst fear, and it was realised. I don’t know if/when i’ll feel comfortable using a captioning devices again.”
Hadestown responded to Ms Coleman on Twitter on Thursday by apologising and promising to review its internal policies so that “this doesn’t happen again”.
“Thanks for connecting with us, Samantha. We’re grateful for you bringing this to our attention and we are working with Jujamcyn Theaters (the production company) to review our policies and internal protocols to ensure this doesn’t happen again,” the musical wrote. “We look forward to welcoming you back soon.”
The musical followed-up by tweeting: “For full disclosure, we had connected privately with Samantha to sincerely apologise and remedy the situation, as we felt that was a better forum to handle the matter meaningfully.”
Ms White, a veteran of Broadway, has yet to apologise to Ms Coleman, the Daily Mail reported. The star has meanwhile remained silent on Twitter.
Ms Coleman added in a series of tweets over the weekend that Ms White was “not a malicious person, nor is she the enemy. The ‘villain’ of this tale is systemic ableism in society and in the industry - not her. Education is key. Please be kind.”
“It’s important for me to articulate - I ask to extend kindness and forgiveness to Ms White. Her social media pages, particularly Instagram, have been flooded with ageist & racist comments. Please stop harassing her,” Ms Coleman added.
The Independent has contacted Ms White and Jujamcyn Theaters, the production company for Hadestown, for comment.
