Rocky Horror Show musical director sent threats to self to end production and avoid cast drama

You'd think someone involved in The Rocky Horror Show couldn't get enough drama. But the musical director of a production in Vermont got so fed up with cast theatrics that he sent a series of threats to himself in a successful effort to shut the show down. Kenneth Grenier, 26, of Hyde Park, was cited for making false reports, according to Essex police.

The Essex Community Players were to do the Time Warp in spring, but canceled the run over safety concerns. Grenier attempted opsec but was sloppy: he used an anonymous texting app, but authorities got the IP address used to establish the account and an internet service provider identified Grenier's address. He admitted authoring the texts, authorities say, to get out of the production to avoid dealing with its cast.

Another apparent mistake was the decision to impersonate a real person in one of the texts.

Seven Days previously reported that on March 30, Grenier and board member Holly Biracree received texts from somebody representing themselves as Billie Davis, senior vice president of amateur licensing and compliance at Concord Theatricals, the New York City company that licenses the show. The person threatened to pull the Players' rights to the show if the role of Rocky was not recast with a male actor and if the script was not performed exactly as written. … Concord Theatricals confirmed to Seven Days in April that the texts were not from its staff.

By early April, the production was in chaos and the hoax fed fears a 51-year-old gender-bending show was under ideological threat. "The whole affair could have been avoided had Grenier simply communicated his frustrations with the rest of the group," cast member Jess Wisloski told Seven Days.

The board called an emergency meeting and forwarded the messages to Essex Police, who began investigating. The next morning, members of the Players received another suspicious text. "I'm part of the cast and I heard you guys went to the police. Well Patrick and Kenny need to go. They are weak human beings," the message read.

Drama!

Fake threats created by musical director sabotage 'Rocky Horror Show' production, police say [MyNBC5]