Former director at Kansas City theater dies days after being accused of sexual abuse
The Coterie Theatre’s artistic director of 30-plus years, Jeff Church, 63, was found dead on Saturday, after resigning his position amid sexual assault allegations that had started circulating on social media.
Kansas City Police officers found Church dead at his home on Saturday afternoon. Emergency medical services also responded to the scene and confirmed Church was dead, according to a statement from KCPD on Monday. The cause of death has not yet been released by the medical examiner’s office.
Church’s death came days after detailed social media posts surfaced, alleging the children’s theater artistic director was responsible for sexually assaulting young men. On Thursday, Dec. 22, KKFI 90.1’s Mark Manning said in a Facebook post that Church assaulted him 31 years ago when he was 27, and said he knew many others who had also been victimized.
Manning told The Star that he chose to share his experience in an effort to support others who had come forward, namely, Dashawn Young, who was one of the first to speak out about Church.
“It’s been going on for over 30 years, “ Manning said. “Most of these people were young theater artists trying to find their way through their theatrical career and a person in a very great authority position of directing them and deciding who gets paid and who gets the job [was] interfering in people’s lives. “
Manning said that after he posted to Facebook on Thursday, three different people reached out to him to share that they experienced similar behavior from Church.
The allegations were first published by The Pitch on Friday, which reported that more than a dozen people have come forward to the publication with allegations about Church’s inappropriate behavior.
“He has groomed, abused, and assaulted, numerous young men over the course of 30+ years. Myself included,” actor KC Comeaux said in a statement on Facebook about Church on Friday.
“If you, or someone you love has fallen victim to Jeff Church, I want you to know you are not alone. I, and countless others are here to support you and help healing in any way we can.”
The Star was not able to independently verify every allegation of sexual assault.
Following the allegations against Church, The Coterie Theatre posted a statement on its Facebook page on Saturday afternoon that it had accepted Church’s resignation and was committed to investigating the allegations. Church’s biography page has been taken down from the theater’s website.
“We want you to know that we are taking these allegations extremely seriously and will move forward with the investigation immediately, despite the impending holidays,” the statement reads.
The Coterie Theatre did not answer calls for a comment on Church’s death or their ongoing investigation into the allegations about his conduct.
Manning said that it’s time for Kansas City’s theater community to finally reckon with allegations of sexual assault.
“It’s truly a tragedy for our community,” Manning said. “I don’t want to see a whole theater company be destroyed because of one person and the horrible things that they did over a long period of time to a lot of different people, both men and women,” Manning said.
The Coterie Theatre’s longtime director, Joette Pelster, also died recently of natural causes. The 71-year old died in her sleep in November.
“Her achievements were many and her impact on the performing arts in Kansas City was immense,” David Golston, a spokesperson for the theater said in an emailed statement to The Star last month.
It has not been confirmed whether others at the theater had prior knowledge of the abuse allegations against Church.
