Spokane Children's Theatre (SCT) is a nonprofit theater in Spokane, WA. As a children's theater, SCT should exist to serve the children of its community and introduce them to theatre in a safe and nurturing environment.

Under the leadership of Managing Director Doug Beschta and its current Board of Directors, SCT has failed to do that in the most egregious way possible.

Beschta allowed a child rapist, Galen Myers, to continue working at the theater after multiple sources expressed concerns over his behavior towards children. By his own admission (per the SR article on 2/1, below), he was aware of these concerns but chose to allow Myers to continue working at the theater. In addition to crimes against children outside of the theater, Myers went on to rape a 14-year-old actress in the parking lot of the theater. (Sources in the 2/27 SR article suggest he may have been made aware of these concerns as early as 2018.)

In addition to his role in this crime, Beschta himself is accused of both casting discrimination and assaulting former theater employees. When the employees inform the board that they had been assaulted by Beschta, in front of children, they were reportedly told to "hug it out". (All of this per the SR article on 2/27, below).

As of yet, SCT has made no public statement in response to these events on its Facebook page, on its website, or to the media. On the morning of 2/28/22, SCT's Facebook page included an event for upcoming auditions. This demonstrates their intention, if not stopped, to carry on "business as usual". The community must intervene to prevent these events from being swept under the rug and allow dangerous adults to continue to be responsible for children in our theater community.

Sign now to demand the immediate resignation of Doug Beschta as well as the current SCT Board of Directors (named below). The community must form a committee of theater and child professionals, as well as parents, to interview qualified replacements.

The road ahead will be rough for Spokane Children's Theater, but this community is capable of great things. Children need theater. They need a safe space to grow and create. The children and families who put their trust in SCT, under its current leadership, were viciously robbed of that. Only by coming together can the community restore it.

Spokane Children's Theater Board of Directors (per their website as of 2/28/22)

Managing Director, Doug Beschta 
President, Tanya Brownlee
Vice President, Doug Stephens
Treasurer, Tara Lambert
Secretary, Erika Mullins
Board Member, Sam Higgins

Man charged with raping girl he met while working at Spokane Children's Theater | The Spokesman-Review​

Discrimination, ignored concerns about sex offender and aggressive behavior created unsafe environment at Spokane Children's theater, former employees say | The Spokesman-Review