Fringe play cancelled due to playwright's child pornography conviction

Edmonton's leading outdoor theatre festival has pulled a show from its lineup after learning that a playwright and former substitute teacher convicted on child pornography charges was involved in the production.

In a statement issued Friday, management with the Edmonton International Fringe Festival said it was immediately cancelling all upcoming performances of the playWho Goes There?

The festival found out that David Belke, who was convicted of possessing child pornography in 2017,was the playwright about two months ago.

Adam Mitchell, Fringe Theatre executive director, said since then organizers have been trying to work with the play's producers and host venueto "mitigate" the risk.

But community reaction eventually pushed them to cancel the show altogether.

"I think we knew that there would be a community reaction and we were working towards mitigating any harm that was involved," Mitchell said. "What we've heard from the community is that our processes didn't go far enough."

Belkewas sentenced in 2017 to six months in jail, followed by one year of probation.

Court was told he had amassed a collection of images and stories over a period of about eight years, and had done so primarily out of curiosity, unaware that the pictures and stories were considered child pornography.

ALERT's Internet Child Exploitation unit began investigating afterBelketook his computer to a Staples outlet in Edmonton to be repaired andatechnician found nude images of young children on the computer.

Of the images found on Belke's computer, about 12 could be considered child pornography. None were explicit, but some had explicit captions.

Belke never distributed the images.

Police found most of the images appeared to be from "naturist or nudist" sites on the internet.

• Edmonton playwright charged with possession of child pornography
• Edmonton playwright sentenced to 6 months in jail on child pornography charge

The decision blindsided the producers of the play who said they worked with the Fringe Festival tocreatea policy which limitedBelke's participation in the production.

The policy stated Belke couldn't be at the church during the Theatre for Young Audiences,he would not have unsupervised access to non-public venue areasand a representative from the church would accompany him during all performances of Who Goes There?.

"I was a bit aghast," said Christopher Pappas, the church's rector and executive director of the play.

Hesaid he was called this morning with the news that the play would be cancelled, and he requested a meeting with the committee to talk about it.

He said the committee agreed to a meeting at 2 p.m. But 15 minutes before that meeting, Pappas discovered the committee had already put out a press release that the show would be cancelled.

"The work we had done together was tossed aside."

Hesaid the goal of the policy was to ensure safety andcreate a unified front with the Fringe Festival in case there was backlash about Belke's participation in the festival.

Pappas added that Belkeco-authored the play a number of years ago, and while he did make significant contributions to the play, he's not the only one impacted.

"We have a producer, we have the director, we have the equity actors, we have a stage manager. We're just using a play that was written by a guy who was convicted. Heserved his time. The judge has no prohibition on him whatsoever."

He said the policy was in place to make sure the public and Belke felt safe during the festival.

Pappas said they will be running the play independently at the same times listed on the original Fringe Festival schedule.

At a press conference on Friday, Mitchell said they had been working on an agreement with the host venue, Holy Trinity Anglican Church, to create guidelines and limitations surrounding Belke's participation in the production.

They could not stop Belke from participating in the Fringe Festival as a member of the public, meaning he would be allowed on the premises to attend shows.

Mitchell said Belke's involvement would have contravened the festival's policy against abuse and harassment.

He said he doesn't know if Belke will be invited back to future Fringe Festival productions, as this decision is limited to this year's show.

"We will immediately engage in a structured conversation with the community about this issue to discuss how we move forward," Mitchell said.

Mitchell said one reason it took two months to make a decision wasbecause the festival is based on "unjuried" and "uncensored" art, and they wanted to assure the "artistic values that Fringe is founded on are maintained."

Ultimately, Belke's case was "separate from that issue."

"We are dedicated to evolving our Safer Spaces policy. We cannot do that and allow the show to continue."

Fringe it is the oldest and largest festival of its kind in North America. This year's festival runs from August 15 to Aug. 25.

Who Goes There? was billed as a "family friendly" play centred around a "recovering soldier and an investigative stranger."

It was set to show seven times at the Sanctuary Stage at Holy Trinity Anglican Church.

Programs printed for this year's festival listed Belkeas the playwright for the production.

Just over 50 tickets had been sold for the production, and all ticket holders for Who Goes There?will be reimbursed, the festival said.