This Way to the Egress

Public FB post from Sarah Egress, Jan 26 2018

Regarding Wicked Faire.
There is some great upset in a community that we frequently perform in. I have personally received many emails at this point asking if EGRESS will be performing at Wicked Faire in light of these accusations and I have also received some emails urging us to not perform at this event. Unfortunately, there are many dynamics at play in this situation and there is a lot of gray area for the performers and people that are contracted to be in attendance.

While I do plan on making an official statement at some point in the near future as of now I would like to say that EGRESS will be in attendance. We are contracted to be there, we do not have the financial means to be in breach of contract at this point but even beyond that, our loyalty has and always will be to our fans. There will not be refunds offered for the attendees to this event and we do not want to make our fans suffer for reasons they may have not been aware of until a week prior. As we know, these events aren't cheap and some people have to save and really move mountains to attend.

While I in no way, will ever condone or be complicit in the sexual misconduct, abuse or harassment of anyone, I have also not had the time to process or receive all of the facts and my personal experience at these events have always been professional, appropriate and respectful. Me and my troupe have personally never experienced any disrespectful or inappropriate behavior, we have also never had an issue with the things we have been contracted to receive. We have always been able to attend, play our hearts out and have a great time with many of our fans and friends. I am not denying that others have had very different experiences than us. It also disturbs me to think that our fans could come to see us perform and feel unsafe, still  as I said there is a lot of gray area. Being a week out from the event, not hearing a statement from Jeff or the staff themselves, having both sides of the coin coming at me in my inbox, trying to reconcile my personal experience with the new information that is becoming available, has left all of the performers, some of the staff and vendors that live very far outside of these experiences; in a very difficult place where no matter what decision we make there will fallout from it. It sucks. I am hoping that you can understand that.

I also hope that anyone that feels like they have been wronged in these situations have the resources and the support they need to heal. I hope that these situations can spark a stronger dialog between people about communication, boundaries, consent and professionalism. I hope that the next time I am able to post I have something more substantial to offer.