Bad act

Sex games, lies and broken trust. What happened at New City Theatre?

By Anthony Del Valle

New City Theatre opened in a new building at 2900 Patrick Lane in November 2002 with a lot of fanfare. Owner Yehoshua "Josh" Sofer told the press he planned to bring professional-caliber entertainment to Las Vegas. He vowed to keep the place running at least two years and announced a full season of plays. He offered acting classes, internships, a repertory ensemble and a comedy club.

The productions were often third-rate original scripts (two by Sofer) and received mostly scathing reviews. And after just four months and five plays, the theater suddenly shut down in March 2003 in the middle of a production. There was no notice, no statement to the press. Callers to the theater's phone number were greeted with the message, "The New City Theatre is now under the management of Group Las Vegas, a private theater and nightclub for discerning patrons. Admission is by invitation only."

The place remained dark, though, for months. In November, it reopened, with Sofer still managing the place, but longtime local acting teacher Joseph Bernard now listed as artistic director. The new New City Theatre opened its second production last weekend. But there was no explanation from Sofer about the sudden closure that had lasted nearly nine months.

But there was a police report. And accusations from former members of the main acting company that classes at New City were excuses for sexual activity. Six former members of the acting company, ranging in age from 16 to 25, including two of three paid associate producers, wanted to tell the press what happened, on the condition that their names not be used.

In separate interviews, they all tell similar stories. They contend that Sofer initiated an "inhibition release" series of exercises. "He made it clear he wanted to know what was going on in our sex lives," says one female, who was 15 at the time. "So he had students touch each other's [genitalia]. We had our clothes on. At times we would have to simulate sex. But he was careful. He told us if we didn't want to do it, we could leave."

An 18-year-old female claims the advanced acting classes went further with "advanced inhibition release." "He told us if we wanted to be actors, we had to learn to relax with nudity because there's a lot of nudity in Hollywood. We would be naked and blindfolded and told to touch each other."

The students say they were told by Sofer not to discuss on the outside what went on during class. Everyone went along until Sofer, according to the students, began going too far.

"We were having a private class," the 18-year-old female says. "I was naked and blindfolded and laying down. He began performing oral sex on me and I jumped up."

Students say they later began sharing experiences. "It finally dawned on us how naive we'd been," the 18-year-old female says. "Somebody said, 'If being naked and uninhibited about sex is so important to being a good actor, then why aren't porn stars great actors?'"

They say they held a meeting in March and decided to all quit, effectively closing down the current show. One student, accompanied by her father, filed a report with the Metro Police Department on March 14. She told sexual assault agent Tina Snyder that she was "the victim of open and gross lewdness" that involved "group touching, licking and kissing on various body parts" and was instructed "to touch private parts, i.e., females touched the penis, males touched breasts and buttocks...all at the instruction of the teacher."

Lt. Jeff Carlson of Metro's sexual assault unit said Sofer denied the charges, and no further action was taken due to "conflicting stories" and a lack of evidence.

In an Aug. 21 e-mail message to this writer, Sofer said, "I will reply to any allegation any person makes if they are named." In a Sept. 8 e-mail, he said the charges "are totally unfounded and orchestrated by adults claiming that they do not have the personal self-awareness and self-control to participate in acting exercises that are used daily around the country. ... Their own personal sexual activities make any exercise look very mild." When asked for a face-to-face interview, he said, "I will respond in writing to any allegations made by anyone who will give me their name."

But when the former students agreed to allow this reporter to use their names with Sofer in connection with the allegations, Sofer changed his mind. He claimed to have received a verbal death threat and added, in a Sept. 17 e-mail message, "I have been advised that [your] interviews and pending article is most likely inciting this violence and threats. ... I was further advised to stop all communications with you. ... They also strongly suggested that I...institute a trespass order against you and any paper you work for." Sofer claims he's been threatened with violence and that his theater marquee was destroyed by one of his accusers. The former troupe members deny that anyone has threatened Sofer or vandalized his theater.

On Oct. 30, Sofer sent an e-mail with pictures of his destroyed marquee, and wrote, "I thought you might like to see what type of honest, decent people you are dealing with. Here is what is left of a $6,000 sign after they vandalized it for the 4th time with rocks until it completely came down. This brings the total damage to around $8,000 not to mention two death threats, damage to my vehicle and the building behind me. What's next, do I get shot or my children hurt? ... [This] group of young adults [was] extremely sexually active among themselves when they joined the theater. ... Several of the group had severe family problems and even asked to stay in the theater one night because they could not go home, and you believe their nonsense. I did more for these individuals than probably anyone ever has... "

The troupe members feel Sofer is trying to smear their names to protect himself. "He warned us not to tell people about this," a 16-year-old female says. "He would tell us a lot, 'Remember, I'm a better liar than you are.'"

Repeated attempts to interview Sofer failed. However, earlier this month he did talk to Back Stage, a weekly Los Angeles trade publication. He didn't mention the controversy, and told reporter Erin Auerbach that his theater had closed down because he thought at the time he might have liver cancer. He didn't.

The former acting troupe members are angry.

"You have to understand something," one 18-year-old male says. "Most of us had dreams of being an actor and we didn't know anybody who had [become an actor]. I was a young kid about to get out of high school and I had no idea what I was going to do and here this 50-year-old guy comes along and says, 'I can make you a great actor, I can make all your dreams come true.' It was like he was going to get me everything I wanted in life. He seemed like a really smart man...and he had been in a lot of movies. We asked him later what movies he was in. He wouldn't tell us. He said he used a different name. But he wouldn't tell us what the name was. ... [When] we had to get naked and spank each other--guys with guys, girls with girls, and girls with guys--I did wonder what this had to do with acting, but I was willing to go with it. Some people asked us why we never said 'no.' I know now it sounds crazy, but we were brainwashed. He's very persuasive. Towards the end, I no longer believed that he could help me. He started mixing up his stories. I didn't believe anything he said anymore."

The 18-year-old male says his then-girlfriend was among the students who were touched by other men. "I knew she didn't care for the guys [touching her], so it didn't matter," he says.

Another 18-year-old male says, "He kept telling us don't ever discuss outside what takes place in the theater. He said everything is based around sex. Sex is everyone's motivation. ... He usually kept his distance. He used to say, 'As a teacher, I have to keep a distance, but as actors, you have to go all the way.' Everyone in the acting troupe was young. He used to say, 'By the time people are 30, they're too set in their ways.' I thought it was strange that there would be no older members of an acting company. ... But we wanted to be actors. We felt we'd do anything for him."

A 25-year-old female former associate producer says, "We feel so dumb looking back on it. He was a father figure. And we all really wanted to be in the theater. We thought he was the answer. He said he was going to open up 10 theaters all throughout the West. He gave us a pamphlet detailing the plans. We were each going to head one of them up and make money by selling advertisements in programs. ... I'm not sure it was about sex, because if it was, he could have hired people for that. I think it was about power. Later, we read an article on how cult figures work. We laughed, 'cause we realized he'd done all those things."

A 51-year-old real estate agent said his then-15-year-old daughter was consumed by the school. "At first it seemed fine," he says. "Her friends got her involved. It seemed legitimate, a nice opportunity for her. But the hours--she'd be there from right after school until about 11:30 at night every night. Then she started having emotional problems, but I couldn't pinpoint them. It affected her schoolwork. She was a good student, As and Bs. Then suddenly she was failing. ... One day she started telling us what was going on, in bits and pieces. She didn't say everything at once. She was vague. I tried to be calm. I tried to think of the right way to handle it. That's why I called the police. I didn't confront him. I thought, what would the point be? He would just deny it. We didn't get anywhere with the detective. She said she didn't think the district attorney would think there was enough evidence. She also said no one said no. I couldn't believe a man could do this and legally get away with it. The man was using these naive people to his own end. The problem is it can happen again and again. The whole goal of that school was to get people in there so he could use them to his own end. His goal wasn't theater."

(Lt. Carlson confirmed that an adult telling another adult to touch a 15-year-old girl who does not object "is not necessarily a crime.")

Most of the former troupe members say they're through with theater. At least in Vegas. "After all of this, she's soured on theater," the father says of his now-16-year-old daughter. "We've seen a lot of unhappy days."

According to a former associate, Sofer spent the months following his theater's shutdown doing "suggestive filming." He was also trying to figure out a way to get his theater up and running again. The former students were claiming he was looking for a "respectable" theater person to serve as artistic director. In June, he announced that Beverly Welsh, a senior-theater instructor, would take over. But according to reliable sources, Sofer's relationship with Welsh soured over money issues and general distrust. In an Aug. 13 e-mail, Sofer denied there were any problems with Welsh. But they parted company and an announced September reopening production was scratched.

When 80-year-old local acting teacher Bernard approached Sofer about doing productions at the facility, Sofer, according to Bernard, offered the actor/director use of the place, rent-free. "He heard about me and he thought that my being there might attract people to the theater. ... He wanted to be starting something, I'm not sure what it was, and I was the way."

Bernard told this reporter he was unaware of the charges that former acting troupe members had made against Sofer. "I never heard of such a thing," he says. "I don't know what goes on in his classes. I'm not a part of it. I wonder what I should do. But what can I do? I needed the space."

When asked why he thought Sofer had offered him free rent, Bernard says, "I thought God had smiled on me."

The playhouse's November reopening was a critically acclaimed mounting of Visiting Mr. Green, which Sofer was not involved with. Another production--Generations, directed by Bernard--is now playing. A full slate of productions has been announced for the year. And Sofer is branching out. He's now involved with film and video professionals.

And he's back hosting acting classes filled with another group of young, hopeful wannabes.