• He love bombed me as his student. He told me I was going to be the next Zooey Deschanel. He would drive up to me as I was walking home from class and insist I drive with him. Told me I could take classes for free by being his intern, which was basically just me cleaning up the classroom space of Pinch and Ouch. Getting to know each other very very fast. Nothing seemingly sexual happened at first. But he was just suddenly out of nowhere taking up all kinds of space in my life. Casting me in parts. Inviting me to audition. One night after a show at Actors Express we were at a bar and he told me he wanted to kiss me- out of the blue. I was floored. I never saw him in any kind of romantic light. He was just my teacher and colleague. The next morning I emailed him to tell him I couldn’t take his classes anymore, because he had crossed a major boundary with me. He blew up my phone, demanding to know why. He told me he “wasn’t in love with me” and then begged me never to tell anyone. Then 6 months later he invited me out of the blue to audition for another play he was producing. I decide to, thinking maybe the whole thing over the summer was blown out of proportion. I go in with a monologue for the audition and he berated me in front of everyone for a typo on my resume. I knew right then he only wanted to humiliate me for leaving his classes. He’s a total psychopath. I think he’s dangerous and his current students need to be wary.

  • Grant dated my best friend, and although it was brief, in the short time they were together I experienced more fear for the safety of a loved one than I ever have before. I won’t speak specifically about the things I know he did to her, as that’s not my story to tell, but I will share what it was like watching it play out from the outside.

    I was raised in a narcissistic environment, so I am definitely more sensitive, and more aware of red flags than the average person (although you could be blind and still see his red flags waving) the moment he was introduced to me, my heart sank. Cocky, smarmy, and slimy, are a few words that come to mind. I watched him trying to take up as much space in whatever environment he was in, wanting all eyes to follow him.

    Imagine going to brunch, to meet a friend's new boyfriend, and one of the first conversations you have starts with him talking about how all women are promiscuous and cheaters. It’s almost laughable, but it indeed is what happened.

    I am by no means a non-confrontational person, so as I began to challenge his insane views on women, I could see my friend sinking lower and lower into her seat, trying to diffuse the situation. Eventually the subject was changed but the fact that the conversation happened at all was strike number one. Not to mention that what was a brunch with the three of us, was initially planned as a girls hang, that he insisted on being a part of, even though they had only been dating a short time.

    Every time I called, he was there, any time I wanted to just hang out with her, he had to come. And soon his controlling behavior got more and more unhinged.

    As a friend, it was so hard to not be able to do anything about a situation that was only getting worse. She broke up with him, he left gifts at her house, and showed up to places he knew she would be. They got back together and the cycle would continue. With Grant trying to have more and more control each time.

    Unfortunately for him, my friend and I have a very solid group of people that we have known for years, so as he tried to isolate her, we only rallied around her more, pushing back at his insanity. (Let’s just say he realllyyyyy did not like me.)

    The final nail in the coffin, and what thankfully ended the relationship for good happened because of a wedding.

    Our dear friend was getting married and we had an air bnb booked for months in anticipation. All of us were going to be staying in the house (no partners) and it was going to be like a reunion, as many of us were living in different places. Grant was INSISTING that he be invited to the wedding, and stay in the house with us. Telling my friend it’s not normal for partners to not do everything together. Never mind that they had only been dating a couple of months, and that no one’s partners were staying in the house. He kept trying to tell us he would stay out of our way (yeah right) and he wouldn’t affect our trip. He then started telling her we were trying to cause issues for their relationship, she didn’t need to go to the wedding. How dare she want to go without him. Enough was enough, she was able to get out. And we had a lovely Grant free wedding trip.

    To summarize, I truly thought that he was going to kill her. I am thankful that she was able to get away, when so many women are not as lucky. Grant is a sick sick individual, and if he goes unchecked I truly believe he will kill a woman one day. I have waited for the opportunity to speak on it, and I’m glad that I have been given the chance to do so.

  • [REDACTED]

    Pinch ‘N’ Ouch Theatre was a place where he attracted a group of aspiring actors and directors and other film and theater and creative folk and indoctrinated them in his one-semester’s-worth of the teachings of Meisner, then manipulated them into working in the theater on his shows and film projects for free, using flattery, inspirational quotes, spouting negative opinions of every other acting school and theater in Atlanta to keep them at PNO, and touting his own supposed talents and skills.

    His grandiose beliefs about himself combined with his overly affectionate, love-bombing compliments to every new person in order to hook them was what colored everything there. The people he attracted were the kinds of empathetic and optimistic people who wanted a place to fit in and someone to tell them they were on the right path and they were good and special. I say this knowing that I was one of those people who needed to hear that at that time in my life.

    [REDACTED]. I started taking classes, which he let me take for free, as long as I volunteered at the theater. While Grant himself was very charming and captivating, I also loved the other people I met there. I didn’t know then that we would be bonded by mutual trauma by working with Grant. We still to this day, years after leaving PNO, shudder if his name comes up. It is crazy how many lives he has hurt with his behavior.

    I only worked in that cult (it was absolutely the cult of Grant McGowen) for 3 years before I learned about his abuse of 2 of my close friends there — his wife and an actress who I had also directed and held in high regard. He had abused his wife in every way — emotionally, verbally, sexually, physically, financially, and more. I remember him not allowing her to have any other jobs but the theater, even though they needed the money, he talked about their sex life frequently which she repeatedly asked him not to do (extremely personal details), and when I learned of the physical abuse, I finally saw him for what he was — a narcissistic abuser who uses people up for his own benefit, and the people who have it the worst are the people he’s attracted to.

    [REDACTED]

    At the end of my time there, I began to put so many pieces together — all the women who came there for a time, then mysteriously disappeared and refused to speak about their time there, the women who would literally run out of back doors at restaurants if they knew he had entered the restaurant, the women who had left years ago and were finally willing to talk and had horror stories, like him making every woman who auditioned for the play he wrote make out with him in a bed onstage, even though he was casting a different actor in the role they would be making out with. He alienated anyone emotionally-well enough to see through him in short order. For the people less familiar with narcissism, myself included, it took much longer to suss him out. He was manipulative and emotionally abusive and power mad with people he merely worked with but his treatment of his students who he tried to turn into his sexual partners was truly terrible and he did a very good job of concealing that kind of terrible abuse from the people working at the theater who were not his sexual prey. Every ex I’ve known of his broke up with him due to his tremendous abuse and there have been too many to count at this point. I want him to finally be stopped and not be allowed to teach or have access to new victims. [REDACTED] While I did not see the physical or sexual abuse firsthand, I have heard about it from people I absolutely trust and I have witnessed and experienced enough of the other types of abuse from him to know that they are telling the truth.

    [REDACTED]

  • I dated Grant for a short period of time - right from the start I could see he was pushing me to commit to him in an official relationship after one date. He’s incredibly controlling, i.e you can’t go anywhere without him. If I went to get my hair done he would be calling and harassing me for my time and attention until I answered. And when I would, he would be on the phone with me lecturing me for hours about my behavior until I saw him in person again. It was incredibly exhausting trying to validate him 24/7.

    He quickly tried to cut my friends out of my life saying things like “if they don’t support us, they can go” He would also send photos of himself crying to guilt trip me and often take photos of me after he wore me down and send them to me when I wasn’t with him saying things like, “this isn’t a happy face”.

    I tried to end the relationship a few times. The first time I did, he would leave notes/gifts at my door telling me he would be a better man for me. When I went back, (which I know is hard to understand.. but he can come off incredibly charming to anyone as a lure, especially with people who don’t know him) the aggressiveness became worse and the emotional/physical abuse is something I have a hard time talking about. The things he did to me and threatened me with were incredibly traumatizing- and in all honestly I thought he was going to end my life a handful of times when he was raging at me.

    I had night terrors of him coming after me for a year after I left. I’m pretty positive he has narcissistic personality disorder. Whenever I tried to explain to him the things he was doing, he would turn around and tell me I was doing all of those things. Which really messed with my mental state, and he often painted out all of his ex’s as “crazy”.

    Grant is dangerous to women because he hates them, he’s constantly jumping from relationship to relationship harming everyone in his path. This is a hard story to tell and I’ve left out a lot of things that would be hard for anyone to hear.

  • I was the lead in a PNO show in 2022 that Grant produced and directed. There were more incredibly troubling and downright abusive issues than I can possibly innumerate here, but I’ll touch on the biggest ones:

    1) He was consistently absent from rehearsal — he would be there to let us into the theatre (which was also his apartment — a fact I was not aware of until I had agreed to take the role) and then leave. Most of the time, he wouldn’t return until the very end of rehearsal.

    We directed ourselves. We discussed the script, interpreted together, and blocked ourselves. The week leading up to opening, he started attending rehearsal out of nowhere. He questioned and attempted to radically alter the decisions we had made as a team. He was unwilling to hear our disagreements with him, and insinuated that we were green and ignorant and he was the only one who understood the play. At that point, we had built the show ourselves, and we basically ignored his input. It was very distressing for all of us.

    2) Throughout the process, he was manipulative, deceitful, and undermining. He made promises that were never kept, he triple booked himself and was working on two separate projects, and he inconvenienced us more times than I can count.

    3) The few times that he was at rehearsal, he not only asked but almost forced us to delve into deeply personal issues. In front of the whole cast and our stage manager, he brought up that I was scared my partner and I would never have kids and suggested I use that struggle to inform my character. I had shared that incredibly painful situation with him IN CONFIDENCE during a hangout (before I knew who he really was). He did similar things with other members of the cast.

    4) He relayed equally personal information about his current girlfriend’s personal life and difficult current circumstances openly to the cast throughout the process. He did the same with details about previous partners, often mentioning them by name.

    5) He used us as free therapy. When he was there, he’d talk, uninterrupted, about his personal life and problems. It would start as tangentially related to the show, but quickly branch off and become about him. There were a few times where he talked for 45 minutes straight. And then he’d leave when we got back to rehearsing.

    6) He called and texted me about his relationship strife constantly. I finally had to tell him to stop, as it was making me incredibly uncomfortable.

    … In general, Grant duped me. He came off as a nice, open, creative, and dynamic person. He ended up being a total sham as a director and friend. I do not think Grant McGowen should be practicing theatre anywhere. He needs serious therapy.

  • I’ve known Grant for about 13 years. My direct interaction with him professionally was limited to a single production- we appeared in his company’s production of Tape together.

    My takeaway then was that he was largely well-intentioned, if a bit flaky. Certainly had an expansive and generous view of his own abilities as a producer/writer/director/actor. But the production came and went without incident. And here’s why: I’m a cisgender 6’3” white male whose reputation was advantageous for his theatre company. That flawed historic power structure is in alignment with Grant’s values. He would be unlikely to challenge it.

    I’m writing this because I only recently learned Grant is teaching young people*, and I feel this is an unsafe choice. Grant lacks a healthy understanding of boundaries and appropriate leadership dynamics. I have heard direct reports from young female artists of him crossing very clear lines of appropriate behavior- often this is of a sexual nature, but he is also habitually reductive and dismissive, not allowing early-career artists to exercise their own agency in a creative process. It’s his goal, his vision, and his ego.

    Because of this, I have discouraged colleagues from working with Grant. I know others have as well. I know he’s aware of this, and I genuinely wish it hadn’t been necessary. But he couldn’t, in my opinion, be trusted with a room.

    I am a former college professor. I take the responsibility of guiding students toward their own confident artistic identities very seriously. It is a very delicate balance, and instructors must choose their words and actions with exceptional care.

    I do not believe Grant possesses that nuance, nor those priorities. He should not be working with young people, young women in particular.

    I hold no anger towards Grant from our interactions- my frustration is based entirely in the reported and verified experiences of others. I genuinely wish him good health and better decisions. But I am certain his students are in an unstable and potentially unsafe environment, and I hope actions are taken to correct that.

    *IMPORTANT NOTE: Although it appears Grant McGowen is no longer employed at the New York Conservatory for Dramatic Arts, he has announced plans to open his own private studio in New York.

  • I’ll go ahead and say right off the bat that I wouldn’t classify myself as a victim per se (I’m a guy), but I was heavily involved with Pinch N’ Ouch as a student and as a worker. I have probably rewritten this four or five times now because I really could go on and on about all the things that were promised to me and how it all ultimately lead to very little. In no way does it compare to the other awful stories I have heard, but I do think there’s a clear sign of his carelessness towards the people who help him the most. I was sadly one of them.

    Several times, I worked on scenes and monologues specifically for his class (some I’d work on for weeks) only for that work to never see the light of day. This includes but is not limited to: 1) a scene for a student showcase we were supposed to do at Callanwolde in the summer of 2021. As time went on, the showcase was brought up less and less until it was silently dropped altogether (I suspect Rent had something to do with this as they were supposed to perform it there). He never told us it was cancelled, we just moved on to doing film scenes from The Social Network. I was severely disappointed. I didn’t even get to show it to the class. 2) a lengthy monologue for a film scene from Don’t Look Up (and I’ll talk more about that period of my time soon). 3) a scene that Grant wanted to film for my demo reel with me and him. It was at that point that, while I had done the work for the scene, I was so desensitized to dedicating so much time to memorizing material that I didn’t grow attached to the scene. Besides, I didn’t need the footage as my reel was already in a pretty good place.

    As his student, I noticed that Grant tends to go on long lectures that could take almost an hour, which I suppose is fine for beginner students who are new to the Meisner technique or Grant, but when you mix those students in with those who have been in the class for a while like myself and others, it gets incredibly tedious and the new students were left perpetually confused. There were multiple times when we were about to start an exercise but then he would get caught up on a lecture of acting or something and we'd just be sitting around waiting for him to stop. Multiple students have complained about it. I've even brought it up to him. I wasn’t paying $150 a month to hear someone go on an hour-long lecture about acting. But instruction often felt sloppy, repetitive, and unorganized and there was never any consistency. In addition, his communication was terrible. I would often send him a message only for him to never respond. However, I was a slightly more fortunate case because I worked with him so often, but plenty of other students had the same experience, and some would even come to me asking how to get ahold of him and I wouldn't know what to tell them other than he's not great at getting back to his students.

    When we were filming scenes from the movie Don't Look Up for class, there was a period where his sister was performing a comedy show at Pinch N' Ouch. They were initially set for a two-day run on a Friday and Saturday, but they then decided to add a Thursday performance which Grant accepted, completely forgetting that our class meets on Thursday nights at the theatre. So we held class at his sister's house. We did no Meisner exercises, we filmed no scenes because his sister had a dog that would've made it impossible to shoot, so we just spent the time reassigning scenes and due to students dipping out, I went from having one scene to having SIX scenes. I don't think anyone else in Grant's class has had to do that many scenes for one project. And normally, I wouldn't be upset about it. I'd actually be thrilled. But it was so clear that he was making it all up as he went. And the way film scenes are done in class is sorta arbitrary because nine times out of ten, we wouldn't know which scenes we'd be filming. It all just depended on who was here and ready. So when you factor that in, as well as the fact that I now had six scenes to shoot, it was nothing short of anxiety-inducing, because for all I know, we might not end up filming any of them, so what's the point!? (Side note, I only filmed three of the six scenes given to me. One of the ones I never got to film had an extremely long monologue I worked hard to get down. Never got the chance to show it.)

    As an artistic collaborator, he left a lot to be desired. He would frequently be very excited and enthusiastic about my work as a writer and wanting to put it on and whatnot, but when it actually came time to do such a thing, his enthusiasm was gone. For example, there was a time we had a staged reading for a play I wrote at PNO but he never spread the word about it. All of that was me. There was even a period where he forgot the reading was happening. The reading DID happen but in total, I think ten people attended because he never got people excited about it. And even after it happened and I reworked the play almost entirely, I tried to schedule a private reading just so he could see where the play was and if he was still interested in producing it, but all those emails and requests were ignored or brushed off. If he didn’t wanna produce it anymore, that’s totally fine. I just wished he told me so I wasn’t sitting around waiting for it to happen. In addition, when he was DP for a short film I wrote (which he didn’t wanna do until another student convinced him to join) not only did he work too fast for my comfort to the point where the final product looked rushed, not only did he blatantly ignore a part of the scene I really wanted shot, but he also never used an assistant camera operator (AC) that we brought for him. The AC is the one who does the slate and markings but Grant decided to tailslate everything, which meant just saying the take number out loud for editing, defeating the need for a slate. So our AC basically served no purpose. I felt terrible because, even though she said she didn't mind observing filming, I can't help but feel like I wasted her time and got her hopes up. And it’s not like Grant didn’t know that she was gonna be there, she was part of the group chat and everything. He just tossed her aside.

    As box office manager, oftentimes tickets for shows at Pinch N' Ouch would have the time an hour earlier than the show was to be presented so I would see plenty of people come early and just sit outside the door. He would also hold music rehearsals incredibly late. There was little I could do. Grant would usually tell me to send them to a nearby restaurant called Ration and Dram, which rarely worked, simply because everyone had already ate since they made plans around getting to the show on time. There was one time I had to sit out in the cold and have to tell people myself doors weren't open until I brought it up that we could just put a sign up.

    There was one time when he told me about the drama between him and his girlfriend about what all she found out about finding stuff in his room and whatnot. Apparently, she found an album of naked photos and discovered that Grant had herpes. He even showed me the text messages that she sent him. I only glanced through them. I was kinda taken aback because I've never had a teacher do anything like this. But he tends to overshare a lot.

    I just feel so let down that I did so much for him and all I’ve really gotten out of it was a rushed short film that I poured my heart and soul into and working for his theatre for $50 a night. I never did a showcase that he promised, I never had the opportunity to do a show with him, and I just left feeling so defeated. I had always wanted to learn the Meisner technique and now seeing all of this made it feel like it was all a lie.

    What hurts even more is the friends I’ve lost as a result of all this, including one who I considered a really good friend, someone who I enjoyed being around and wanted to work with more, someone who helped me when I really needed it. That person took Grant’s side in all this. And look, if he truly feels in heart of hearts that Grant is innocent, that’s his choice. I won’t hold it against him. It just sucks that it took away from our friendship and that he very well might want nothing to do with me anymore. Our friendship started because of Grant and now it ended because of Grant.

    And after hearing all the stories, it reminded me of when I was researching Pinch N’ Ouch before even auditing a class there (this was back in 2018). I went to school at a college that taught the Meisner technique and I remember the Meisner teacher telling me about an email Grant sent to him seeing if he could have their next BFA showcase happen at Pinch N’ Ouch. At the time, I didn’t think much of it, but now hearing all these stories, I get sick to my stomach thinking what his ulterior motive was there, what he planned to do with a young, impressionable crowd of soon-to-be graduates.

    I don’t wish for ill will, simply justice.

  • Predatory, inappropriate, and violating behavior as my acting teacher. Sexually violated under the guise of an acting exercise.

  • Having met him in October 2021, there is a lot I could say about Grant McGowen. It has been an incredibly difficult two years with intense highs and lows in our personal and professional relationship and beyond then, and it is also difficult to speak out about this, nor did I ever want to have to. But enough is enough.

    Everything I am about to say I have brought to his attention. I have also brought to his attention that he has harmed other women. Every time I brought this up, even when I tried to do so in a way to help him, I was met with a reaction that was either defensive and angry, in denial, accusing me and/or others of lying, dismissive, gaslighting me, changing the topic, or trying to project or shift the narrative or blame onto me/them. I mention this because I think it is important to note that myself and many others have tried to bring his behavior to his attention, have tried to show him compassion, have tried to be patient and understanding, and have given him so many chances to change, apologize for, and rectify his behavior. And yet, he has not. For decades.

    The following is some of the specific abusive/problematic behavior I personally experienced from Grant over the course of knowing him:

    -While driving, saying he wanted to crash my car into a wall and kill us both. Then demanding I hold his hand.

    -Calling me and telling me he was suicidal and had a gun in his hands and was gonna kill himself. I later found out this was manipulation and he never had a weapon at all. He knows how seriously I take this, especially having someone very close to me commit suicide in this exact manner.

    -Screaming in my face and pouring water on my head when I wouldn’t say what he wanted me to say.

    -Throwing childlike tantrums for hours.

    -Taking my phone and laptop and reading my personal information, not giving me my phone back when I would ask for it, running down the street at 2 AM with it.

    -Following me in his car when I tried to get away in my car.

    -Picking locks of doors I would lock to get away from him, after repeatedly telling him I needed space.

    -Going to my show in another state when I told him not to come multiple times, and getting a hotel room at the same hotel where my company was housing me.

    -Ranting about himself for hours. I could literally put him on mute and he would have no idea because he just would listen to himself talk without me even contributing to the “conversation.” This was beyond exhausting. He would often say he “just needed five minutes of my time” and proceed to rant for hours. Even when I tried to speak, he would interrupt/talk over me.

    -Lovebombing me, mirroring me, and seeming like a great person at the beginning to suck me into his BS. His favorite tactic that I have discovered is quite the pattern with everyone.

    -Blocking doorways so I couldn’t get by.

    -Lying to me before he even met me about being vaccinated against Covid-19 (after I told him I was immunocompromised) and the full details of my housing situation in ATL when I was first cast in a show. (as in - not telling me I would not have a door and that my bedroom was actually a backstage area in the theater.) He also lived upstairs at this theater, also without a door.

    -Telling me anyone who ever said anything bad about him was crazy / someone I should block / not be friends with or ever speak to to prevent me from finding out the truth of the pattern of his behavior.

    -Telling me my friends were crazy and don’t understand boundaries when they tried to protect me.

    -Calling every single one of his exes abusive / crazy / liars / cheaters / or something negative.

    -Constantly saying shitty things about women in general. Speaking against the me too movement, not to believe all women, about all women being cheaters and liars, etc. He claims to be a feminist and is beyond performative. (Newsflash: Writing a play called “Girls Life” doesn’t make you a supporter of women.)

    -Talking about my personal information to his classes of students and to others we worked with, and even audience members without my consent. He continuously denies this (among many other things), meanwhile numerous students have come to me time and time again knowing personal things about me, my relationship with Grant, health information, our arguments, etc. that they would not have known otherwise.

    -Physically shoving me onstage during Rent one night in a place it was not staged because he was mad at me and I confronted him after and he said he was “just in character.” I reported this to my Stage Manager and other cast members also witnessed this.

    -Could not separate his personal feelings when we shared professional spaces.

    -Would constantly put words in my mouth, twist them, manipulate and gaslight me. Accused me of doing this to him, and would project all the things he was doing on to me.

    -Constantly lie, exaggerate or omit information, including some that put my (already immunocompromised) health at risk.

    -More than once, “accidentally” hurt me and said it was his passion coming out as aggression, and would use BDSM as an excuse for his behavior in non-sexual situations.

    -Would call and text me over and over even when I said not to / I needed space.

    -Put me down for my health issues and choices like avoiding events that arose since having Covid / Long Covid which I literally got from him.

    -Using multiple email accounts to contact me from every time I’d block him everywhere else

    -One second saying wonderful things to me to try to reconcile, the next calling me a cunt, that I’m fucking up his life, I’m a menace, etc.

    -Would get mad at my friends or me for contacting other people finding out information about him, but he would contact my parents, ask my dad my whereabouts like I’m 5, constantly was messaging one of my friends about me at all hours, contacted a director I worked with, etc.

    -Asked me to chip in for rent at the theater when I was told housing was provided (I didn’t chip in, BTW) and then later multiple people told me his mother helped pay the rent at the theater / with other finances

    -Would invalidate my previous trauma / try to use it against me / trigger me -Would scream and “cry” and rip his shirts in half off himself when raging -Smashed a table for Rent with a hammer out of rage

    -Would always fake an emergency to get me to talk to him whenever he upset/hurt me and I didn’t want to speak with him

    -Would always try to twist things acting like I was the abusive one, when I would literally shut down and be silent for hours until finally snapping, which was always the reaction he wanted, so I would look crazy. (Anyone and everyone - look up “reactive abuse.”)

    -Did everything in his power to confuse me, weaken me, and create a trauma bond. Boy oh boy did that work. I became very attached. Hence me continuing to stay in his life for so long, and repeatedly unblock him, go back, etc.

    These are just a few examples of the literal hell he put me through. There’s so much more and I can’t even think right now to put it all down. Just know I stayed quiet about so much of this and was repeatedly told by him that none of this was abuse, that if anything I was the abusive one, that nothing was “that bad,” that he had more anxiety and stress dealing with ME than anyone else, and a whole lot of other bullshit that he has said - verbatim - to so many other people from his past. I became a literal shell of a person dealing with him for so long. I am in therapy now because of it. Most people don’t know the half of it. But I’m so sick of staying silent because he wants things “peaceful” and “amicable” and is worried about his career. I don’t owe him shit.

    And I’m so ridiculously sick of men in positions of power continuously getting away with treating women like this. Over and over and over. In their personal relationships, with their employees, students, actors, coworkers, whoever. I’m sick of being told I’m being “vengeful” or trying to “cancel” someone for calling out unacceptable behavior and sharing my LITERAL EXPERIENCE. For wanting to warn and protect others.

    I have been so god damn isolated in Atlanta. I made friends when I first got here. And the best ones? The ones who realized he wasn’t a good person. And he quickly cut me off being around them. Going as far as threatening me/them from speaking again. It has been hard as hell to deal with all of my physical, mental, and emotional side effects from the toxicity this person brought into my life - and my literal body - while mostly being completely alone in a random city that I now have a house in.

    He says I overstepped a boundary and didn’t respect his privacy by reaching out to people from his past. I will never apologize for it. To speak to other people who have been treated this way has been cathartic, validating, and also gave me the push I needed to fully realize I needed to take off the rose colored glasses, see all the red flags of how bad things were, and get away from ever being around this person again. Because apparently I care a lot more about other people and their pain than my own. So as soon as I started hearing their stories, my heart sank, my stomach felt sick, and my anger boiled over. And guess what? That’s what needed to happen. And I sure as shit am working on having that same respect, love, and compassion for myself - to not let ANYONE ever treat me this way again, in ANY environment. Grant needs to understand that just because he has moments of treating people (including myself) with kindness, love, respect, and compassion - it does NOT even remotely negate his abusive and unacceptable behavior the rest of the time. He broke my heart, my spirit, my soul, my health, and my passion. Repeatedly.

    At this point, just about every woman I have spoken to about Grant McGowen says one of two things: 1. They have their own negative experience to share or 2. They have friends who have had a negative experience / have been warned to stay away from him. This isn’t anything new. This has been happening since long before I came along. I have had a flood of emotions over all of this. This is someone who, at one point, I truly did care about. Someone who I got very close with. I feel absolutely duped and like a damn fool, and it is sickening to know how long this has been going on for. I am angry with myself for putting up with it all for so long and having blinders on and constantly listening to him and continuously trying to “forgive and forget.” No one deserves to be treated this way. This is a person who needs help. And until then, no other women, students, or actors, should have to deal with the destructive, dangerous, and delusional hurricane that is Grant McGowen.

  • I wanted to take some acting classes and knew Grant from a gig we did together previously. So I started classes and loved them! After about 2 classes he told me he was over his “ex” (they were still together) and we began to “date”. I did enjoy the small acting community he had cultivated and helped put on parties to connect with others. Here I found out he was still with his so-called ex. I admit that I consented to sexual intercourse but I was not fully attracted to him and took it as a burn on my part for not seeing the signs of a narcissist. I continued to immerse myself into classes and the community helping put on my first show with Pinch n’ Ouch. This is what made me furious with Grant. When we were promised pay, myself, and the actors had to make sure we were paid with an intervention because the money I was calculating was not coming out as equal pay amongst the 4 of us (Grant, myself, and the 2 other actors). With that said I do want to attest to the fact that Grant exploits his actors and female stars/students for sex, money, and his own emotional gain.

  • I would not say I suffered from abuse from Grant, but I can speak to his honesty and integrity, lack thereof, as he was secretly pursuing both myself and his longer term monogamous romantic partner simultaneously. We only discovered this once we started communicating and sharing “receipts.” He so clearly lied to both of us, putting us both at risk. Additionally, the laundry list of other lies this man doesn’t even realize I’ve caught him in is ever-growing. A circus of red flags, a danger to women, and the most obvious pathological liar and narcissist I’ve ever met.

  • Tried to rent space from Grant, but he raised price from what he originally said. Had to push back our show 2 months.

    I went out to a bar with him after class. He talked about cuties in the class and showed me pictures he had taken of a female student from a photo shoot they had done in his bedroom. They were boudoir shots. “Black and white for that film feel.”

    Grant asked me if I knew anyone who had technical director experience. I referred a friend. Grant changed the amount he offered to pay vs what was given to my friend in the contract. My friend walked from the job a few weeks later.

    I would never work/take classes with Grant in any capacity again. He has proven to be untrustworthy and unprofessional.

  • Myself and many other actors left Grant’s Meisner class to switch to Rob Mello’s class because of the way he would talk about himself for the majority of the class and lacked professionalism. He has name dropped actors in class as if they are friends and he helped them in their careers who I would then communicate with only to discover they have nothing but negative things to say about Grant. His auditions for his company’s shows are an unorganized mess. But if you’re a female he wants to sleep with, you’ll likely be cast. I have yet to meet anyone of caliber in the Atlanta industry who has respect for Grant at this point.

  • Over the entire course of the relationship between my good friend and Grant, I overheard so much of his abuse when he would call her or she would hide her phone having it on speaker in their home so I could hear. He is controlling, full of rage, contradicts himself, uses intimidation and scare tactics, guilt trips, constantly screams, and treated her horrible. She would constantly call me sobbing and she tried to leave so many times but would be sucked back into his BS in what was so clearly a trauma bond. I could not believe the level of manipulation and gaslighting I heard this man put her through, and that she would relay to me later. It is no surprise at all to me to hear that he has been treating women like this for a long time. I believe this person needs a psychiatric evaluation by a professional well versed in NPD & BPD, and a deep understanding of sociopaths and psychopaths - and I say this quite seriously, as someone with a degree in psychology, who heard many hours of his rants and abuse.

  • I was physically, mentally, and verbally abused by Grant McGowen. He caused me a lot of anguish and I've had to go through PTSD therapy to recover from what he put me through. His physical abuse included choking, punching, beating and bruising me to the point where I had to wear turtle necks, scarves, and sleeves to hide the marks. He damaged my property, He isolated me from friends and family, threatened me, stalked me, and caused a tremendous amount of emotional damage by instilling fear that he would find me and harm me. I still suffer from an anxiety disorder that was caused by his ruthless emotional abuse. Not only did he cross boundaries with me, I witnessed him do it to many other women (some men too.) He sexually violated people close to me, which to me is an unforgivable offense. He has no conscience and will do anything to get what he wants. He will lie, cheat, and steal his way to what he perceives as the top. I truly believe he is a psychopath and should not be in any position of authority or power over young, vulnerable people (especially women). He is highly manipulative, has no sexual boundaries, and is a chameleon that tries to reinvent himself in new environments when he has to run from the damage he's done to those around him. This is just the tip of the iceberg too when it comes to the bad deeds committed by Grant. I feel a responsibility to warn others about him because I feel he will continue the cycle (which he has done many times) if not stopped.

  • While I did consent to sex with Grant, I did not consent to be video recorded. He attempted to do this secretly until I turned around and saw him and he tried to hide his phone. He got irrationally angry when I confronted him about it. From speaking with multiple other women, I know that I am not the first he has done this with. Grant is sleazy and shady and I have never heard a single good thing about him in the Atlanta theater community. Other actors and teachers warn students and actors to avoid his classes, auditions, and productions, and with good reason. I do not believe Grant should be in any position of power, particularly with young students.

  • Grant cast me in a film he wrote, directed, and produced. I have never experienced such unprofessionalism on a film set. It was one of my last projects as an actor, as I was emotionally scarred from my experience with Grant.

    The film was SAG UNION, and because of this, it had to abide by the laws of — overtime pay, meals, and meal penalties and to give the actors and crew a standard amount of time off between shooting. However, on the time sheet, Grant would fabricate the time we started and finished shooting on the days we went into overtime. I started taking photos of the beginning and end of shooting so that I had time stamps to prove to my union. When I did receive my SAG timesheets to sign, they had been altered to prevent him from having to pay us overtime and meal penalties. I refused to sign, and my management team pushed back on Grant. After a few months, I was finally paid what I owed.

    It was a very toxic work environment. He was rude to me, and especially rude to one of his actor’s that was his girlfriend at the time. It was genuinely hard to witness his treatment toward her on set. She was one of the producers, but he treated her more like an assistant or PA than a producer. He talked down to her, and embarrassed her publicly. It was not a safe creative working environment. He used bullying tactics to get what he wanted from us.

    There was barely any structure to his shoot. Grant liked to film in long takes usually capturing the whole scene in each setup. If an actor messed up a line, he would call “cut” and go back to the beginning of the scene. (Some of these scenes were 15 pages long.) One night, we were shooting an overnight. Once again, we had to be word perfect, shooting 15+ page takes and having to start from the beginning of the scene if we got anything wrong. At one point, we were on approx. TAKE 82 of the same shot. For those not in the business, 82 takes is basically unheard of.

    Additionally, he refused to feed me on this particular day. Before we started shooting, I overheard them ordering pizza for dinner. My wardrobe was very form- fitting, and I couldn’t eat pizza in that dress. I asked if I was able to get a salad. When it came time to break for dinner, there was only pizza available. I inquired about another option, and he said they would figure it out. His girlfriend brought him sushi, but I was never given a meal. I brought it up to her later and told her I hadn't eaten. When she asked Grant why I hadn't eaten, he lied and said I had. On this evening, about ten hours into shooting, sometime after 2 a.m., I was mentally and physically exhausted. Grant was outwardly frustrated because my mind was going blank, and I couldn’t carry each take from the beginning to the end of the scene. When I asked if we could do the scene in sections he was upset with my “unprofessionalism”.

  • I try not to speak ill of others, so this is difficult for me. I don’t have any accounts of Grant being sexually inappropriate with me, which I am grateful for but am incredibly saddened that that is the reality of countless other women. Most of my interactions with Grant while attending his classes at PNO center around him being unprofessional and self-centered. I specifically chose his class because the PNO website said that everyone had to wear masks and be vaccinated. When I showed up, no one was wearing a mask and no questions were asked of my vaccination status. Since the Covid numbers were low at the time, I didn’t press it. However, while taking his classes, a second wave of Covid variants started sweeping the country and impacting Georgia. Around the same time, I was diagnosed with a blood disorder. I felt close enough to the people in our class to disclose this and ask them, if they felt comfortable to do so, to wear a mask while we weren’t on stage doing Meisner work to reduce my risk - which was also in accordance with the policies on the website. The next class, everyone was wearing a mask except for him. He had one on his chin but only kept it on for a few minutes at a time. After a few classes, he stopped wearing one altogether. It was one of the reasons, in addition to the fact that his “instruction” was mostly tangential rambling from which I often struggled to extract value, that I left his class.*

    Grant made a habit of promising things like giving feedback on auditions, taking headshots, or casting us in a role. He would encourage us to reach out to him, but when I did, I was unlikely to ever get a response from him. Only when he needed some thing did he respond and ignored the fact that he hadn’t replied to any previous messages. It’s like they never happened. If, however, he needed something from you, the communication was almost relentless.

    Grant texted me on a night I was hanging out with [REDACTED]. He continued to text me through the late night into the next morning asking about her. He has continued to text me every single month since that interaction asking why I am not responding to him and pretending that someone forged my statement of my experience with him.

    *IMPORTANT NOTE: Grant McGowen was not vaccinated at the time the above student began classes, and lied to more than one person about his vaccination status. He also forged negative test results to get into events that required either a vaccine card or negative test results. There are witnesses of this.

  • He pulled a gun on my best friend, he hit/slapped/choked her. Punched her repeatedly. And was incredibly manipulative

    Important Note: Grant has spoken about the experience with the gun to multiple people and claims it was a fake/prop gun. Regardless if this is true, the victim involved in this situation was not aware of this at the time.

  • I met Grant in 2018 at a local bar we both frequented. I was with my boyfriend at the time. When I first met him, I thought he was just a socially awkward but relatively normal dude, albeit not really reading social cues well? But the more I spoke with him, the more I noticed cringey comments, primarily/particularly about women. Multiple times, he expressed his feelings about all women being cheaters and liars. I love women, I stand for women, I am a woman. This rubbed me the wrong way and I never knew how to respond, other than to attempt to distance myself from him. Flash forward to years later - he ends up involved with a friend of mine, while in a relationship of his own. I am aware that many people are polyamorous, but I took it upon myself to contact his girlfriend when I way later on heard through the grapevine that she existed/had been dating him at the time, and discovered that was not the nature of their relationship - and she was understandably upset, but grateful for me telling her. The next time I saw him at this same bar, he made moves on me as well, which I rejected. Upon speaking with the bartender, I discovered that he made her uncomfortable on multiple occasions, as well. She also said other customers made complaints about him in the past. His views on women, dishonesty, and predatory behavior are concerning. I recently met a group of lovely artists (I am a musician) who are also actors / into improv. 6 of them had awful stories to tell about either being in Grant’s classes or productions. They all shared the same sentiments about his outlook / comments on women, as well. (This was a group of men and women.) It makes me feel uneasy that he ran a company and an education program for so long in this city, and has now moved on to teaching in another city.

  • I found about his classes and I wanted to try going to studio so I contacted him through his website and he told me to come audit class to see if I liked it. He told me to come a little bit earlier so he could show me the place, but what ended up happening, is he make me sit down on the table just the two of us in his studio and he sat right next to me and started asking about my life. Then he proceeded to talk about him tell me that I had great potential and that he really wanted to put me on stage. I felt very uncomfortable. I thought this was normal procedure. After a couple classes, I decided I did not like it so I stopped going. But after I left, he continued to call me, email me, and text me to come back. I had to block him from everywhere so he would stop contacting me.

  • When I first moved to Atlanta to pursue acting I was brand new to the industry with zero friends in this city, zero experience in acting and I had zero training. After much research about different techniques to learn and places to study, I settled on "Pinch N Ouch" theater which at the time was in the basement of a church, to study Meisner. A few months into classes with Grant, he approached me asking me to help him with his repetitions. He said something along the lines of "As an actor who is also a teacher, I still need to practice repetition and as a teacher I do not get the chance to do so, would you like to come practice with me?" I didn't think there was any intent other than to keep up with his "training" in the craft, and we had partners who we practiced with outside of class, so why wouldn't he need that too? Again, I was BRAND NEW to the industry and the city. I met Grant to practice repetitions; not too long into our practice session, during the reps, he kissed me. I pulled back immediately, giving him a look of shock. I was married, it felt gross, was very unexpected, and I was very confused. He began to try to assure me that this was "part of repetitions, that it is all about following your instincts, not thinking and that this was "part of the work"....he said he "just wanted to kiss me so he followed his instincts" It didn't feel right so I told him I had to go. Looking back I shouldn't have continued class there at all, but I had made friends and started to develop community with the other actors in the class so I stayed and just never practiced with Grant again. Fast forward into the film class where he assigned scenes to each of us and also assigned us our partners ( we had no choice as to who we worked with or what we worked on), he assigned a scene with myself, a female, and another female that was a make out session. This was filmed by Grant "for class". Looking back, a "girl on girl" scene for him to film just doesn't sit right with me. Again, I should've acted on the ick feeling I got performing it in front of him, but I was trying to tell myself, acting is so new, you need to work through feeling uncomfortable, this will help you grow... Finally, Pinch N Ouch was casting (Grant was included as a Producer/Director/Actor) for a few different short films. There were others involved as crew, it was not just Grant. So when Grant suggested actors from class come to general auditions for the shorts, I did. I was cast in a short. I was cast in a short with me and Grant. I went to my first rehearsal with him where we were sitting on a bench per the stage directions. We were following the script until he interjects with "I just want to kiss you." At that moment, I stood up, looked at him and said Grant, you're married and so am I. His reply, "I know." I told him I was not comfortable with "this" and asked him to please stop. We finished running the scene, I left the rehearsal and as far as I can remember I never went back. I for sure didn't shoot that short with him. I abruptly quit classes and stayed away from Pinch N Ouch. I felt so stupid, I felt taken advantage of, I felt like NONE of his pursuits to cast me, practice with me, or teach me were in any way, shape or form coming from a genuine place to help me become a better actor. Looking back, they were 100%, in my opinion, attempts to pursue sexual relations with me. This was a long time ago, I have learned a lot and developed healthy relationships with teachers, fellow actors, crew, etc. since that time. I am thankful I finally walked away from Grant and the insincere, toxic environment he created. I only wish I had done so sooner.

  • I have known Grant since high school. There has always been a pattern of disregarding the thoughts and opinions of others and holding out right contempt for women who disagree with him. After high school he and I reconnected working on some film projects. I worked with him on two projects and couldn't do it again. I couldn't work with his unreliable schedule and his constant undermining mine and others choices we were asked to make.

    When I really saw Grant's true colors was his treatment of his partner. He would speak about her to me as though she was either completely incompetent or deliberately sabotaging him.

    Neither was true. I watched him ask her to do one thing to set up the theatre then turn around and yell at her for not doing something else. She tried so hard to make him happy and nothing was ever good enough. He would yell at her constantly about the smallest of things, often things she had absolutely no control over. There was a night while I was stage-managing a show where he had finished berating her and I comforted while she cried on the floor. She and I had become friends separate from him and I found his treatment of her disgusting and I quit that night. He gaslit her, manipulated her, financially abused her, and was emotionally violent, and that is only the behavior he felt comfortable doing around me. This was exceptionally disgusting to me as one of the things we had reconnected over was my being in an abusive marriage. He had claimed that his ex was abusive (something I no longer believe to be true) and we shared stories. I was vulnerable with him as I shared my stories while I was in a state of my life of rebuilding after years of abuse. He knew what I had gone through and that I took abusive behavior very seriously. I confronted him several times about his treatment of his behavior and he constantly brushed it off.

    There is also the pattern of his lying. He has lied about some of the most mundane things to larger far more problematic things including paying people (myself included). He has lied about me, to me. He once told a story about my time in Chicago to a group of people I was in. Literally none of it ever happened. I believe he was trying to hype me up but I never understood the point of lying about it. I also know how much he lies about his partners.

    I have heard stories about his partner that I had become friends with that are verifiably and borderline comically false.

    In my opinion, given how long l've known him, Grant will do or say anything to protect and preserve this image he has of himself as this talented and renown actor and director. Criticism, maintaining boundaries, or differing opinions are often treated as a threat to that image and believes any behavior against a threat is acceptable. He has hurt people deeply and has never showed an ounce of remorse or even acknowledgement of that fact. He has no business being in any creative field and certainly should never be in a position of power over people. He has proven over and over again to have no respect for that power and abuses it constantly.

    He has a history of manipulating women younger than him or if he holds any power over them and should not be in a teaching position of any kind.

  • In 2011, I started working at Pinch N Ouch theater because Grant said he wanted to build a family of young, like-minded theater artists. A friend of mine introduced me to him and brought me on as an assistant stage manager, which then led to me working with him for the next several years as an artistic associate, stage manager, and Meisner class student. I believed in the lie that he sold me and wanted it to be true. I was young, inexperienced, and looking for a community. Grant made so many promises that he never intended to keep and at the time presented himself to me as a friend. My experience with Grant was profoundly damaging and turned me off to theater for several years after.

    Grant is a narcissist. There’s no other way to word it. His only focus has always been his wants and needs, and he often uses his charisma to charm others to give him this attention. He thinks of himself very highly and is quick to tear down every theater company that is not his. He uses others for free therapy, regardless of how long you’ve known him. He openly lies to make himself look better. In everything that he has done, there was never an ounce of accountability or self analysis. If anything, he is quick to love bomb and gas light others until they think they might be crazy for perceiving this behavior from him in the first place.

    When I worked as an assistant stage manager for him, he was in the process of casting a show with one female cast member and someone else as the male lead. The male lead was unavailable for callbacks. On the day of callbacks, he called in each of the women to the stage one by one, with individual times. The stage had a bed in the middle of it. For the callback, they were to improv through the scene “feeling” out the moments. Every single one of these improvs ended with Grant on top of the women in the bed, kissing them. It made me severely uncomfortable and to this day I regret not saying anything. Each time it was played off as “oh wow, how did that happen.”

    As a theatre maker, Grant is irresponsible. When he cast himself in a show, he was always the lead - with the exception of one instance when he was not directing. He was cast in a role that gave him a significant amount of down time. Instead of waiting in the green room, he would often leave the theater and walk across the street to the bar or hot dog joint because he was bored. He drank backstage and was incredibly vocal about his boredom. As the artistic director, he neglected the needs of his actors. He lied about pay and adjusted contracts after they were signed. In one rehearsal he pushed and pushed an actor to reach a certain emotional level, then quietly said to me “I just want to see if he can cry. What do I have to do to break him?” The scene did not call for tears, he just wanted to see if the actor would do it if he made him. In another show, I verbalized to Grant how the actors were feeling unsafe with the process and generally worn down. I tried to set boundaries by suggesting how certain equity rules could be applied (like scheduled breaks) for the benefit of the actors. He said that PNO was not an equity house so there’s no reason to abide. The actors needed to stop complaining. After pushing back, Grant became very cold and agitated with me, sending multiple abrasive texts. In class, Grant pushed his students to share deeply personal information. In one instance, a trauma that I had shared under the guise of “what happens in class stays in class” was later brought up during an early rehearsal with people that I had not met. It was incredibly embarrassing.

    Grant is emotionally and verbally abusive, not just to the actors in his circle, but also to his (then) wife. He treated her horribly and tore her down so many times. He spoke openly about their sex life in graphic detail even though she asked him not to, and when she would protest he would turn things around and make it about her/shame her.

    Grant lacks boundaries. He flew a small group of us to NYC to film scenes for a play he had written and was producing. There was no shot list or plan, just finding spots for him to shoot the actors kissing. One night, alcohol was involved, and physical boundaries were crossed. I was asleep in the next room so I can’t speak to the exact details but when I woke up the next morning he asked me if I heard anything/saw anything last night. I was drunk and did not. He looked relieved, said “great”, and would not explain further. Other members involved later told me - again, not my story to tell - but it put me in the position of making sure they were protected from him moving forward.

    Grant did not and does not deserve any of the people that have come into his life nor does he deserve a position of power in any theater space. His pattern of behavior has spanned over a decade and he has hurt so many people.

  • I was a student of Grant McGowen’s and always found it odd that there was no one else involved with his company during the time I “studied” there. No board, no higher ups, no associate artists or any other positions. He was the only one listed as staff on the website. It all seemed very intentional because there was no one to bring any issues or concerns to. I was told by older actors at one point he had a board but they left / it dissolved. I don’t understand how a theater company operates as a one man show. This not only leads to a lack of organization, but more importantly - potentially dangerous situations. 

    I found it extremely concerning that Grant lived at the theater. The same place where he was teaching and directing was also his living space. Some students were not aware of this. Others were because he told us or showed us. The dressing room downstairs backstage had a bed in it. His personal bedroom/bathroom/living area was upstairs. Only a staircase and curtains separated his bedroom from the “professional” space. It is very disturbing to me, especially looking back, that any of us, as students, were brought into this area for ANY reason. 

    I am aware of many disturbing stories but they are not mine to tell. I think it’s great that so many people are speaking up. I personally know people who have been too scared to speak up for years, or promised roles by Grant which kept them quiet. 

    Grant does not operate as a professional. He operates as a predator who abuses his position of power. The Atlanta theater and film community has been whispering about this for YEARS. About time the whispers become screams. 

    His classes were a joke. As someone who previously has studied Meisner, I was shocked by the way he ran his classes. He would go on rants for a large majority of the class. Many of us grew bored/annoyed. Why pay for this? When we did finally get up to do exercises, it was primarily the same reps over and over, with little to no feedback from him. Sometimes he wouldn’t even be paying attention to us, and would be looking at his phone. I did not get a single beneficial thing from his class. It was also hard to get ahold of him outside of class about things. Classes were often canceled. Sometimes he’d double book his space. Nothing remotely professional about it. 

  • At the time of [REDACTED] (my first professional show btw) the cast was very very public about what was going on and Grant's behaviour-literally no one cared. But, here we are, and I'm glad people care now!

    I remember one of our castmates was already struggling with an eating disorder prior to coming on board but Grant did make fun of her for it and talk about it a lot. Honestly, the crux of OUR issues (and this is because one of the male actors quite literally threatened to beat the shit out of Grant if he said/did/tried anything else with our lead female) was mainly just the fact that Grant was an idiot who knew nothing about Meisner or Directing or the play. And he did things like insert himself into scenes so he could touch our lead actress, or get volatile or throw shoes. But again-the FIRST time this happened, [REDACTED] threatened his life. We had a bit of a "safety" in the fact that Grant was scared of the dudes in our cast and those dudes capitalized on that fear. And also-and this going to sound so bonkers-but because of WHEN it was? So many of the things that might be taken seriously now, or reported now, or even REMEMBERED now regarding behaviour toward women, or abusive environments-we just kinda laughed off. And again, I think a lot of that had to do with the fact that we felt "protected" and because, some version of this was happening everywhere. To be real, we pretty much ran Grant off the project by the end. Though, I wish we had quit. The tolerance for this bullshit was so much higher then. It makes me so sad in hindsight. So while we got some bad shit-it pales in comparison to what so many of the other women have endured at his hands. Grant was still new to the city then and I think was maybe less comfortable being a complete horror show at the time. It always blew my mind that he thought we were friends after. Like...what planet, my dude.

    I wish folks had listened sooner, but I am so glad that everyone found the strength, time and wherewithal to protect future actors and students from him.

  • I was brought on to build the Rent set at 7 Stages. I was excited because I would get to work on a show I love in a city that I was still very new in. I was recommended by friends who were working to rent a space for their show with Grant. I was told by them that he was a bit odd, but nothing we don't see in theatre as usual.

    In my first meeting with him, we discussed that set design and the meeting was overwhelmingly positive. We discussed that my payment would be $2000 and I was going to get a friend to do a design mockup to make it $500 for them. We also talked budget and agreed on making sure I was reimbursed for any money I spent. I talked about time constraints and that I had to be done by a certain date since we would be visiting my family out of town for Christmas.

    The shift began when he changed the contract that my friends had discussed with him to rent the space. He raised the price and made them feel guilty for not being able to afford to do their show with them. I was immediately catching the vibe that he was not going to be good on his word with my situation and we had no contract. I was ready to pull out, but by then my connection to the show was announced on their Instagram. I felt obligated to be a part of the show since I was still pretty new to Atlanta and did not want to get blacklisted.

    I began work on the set in a space I had never been in and had immediate concerns that we could not stabilize the designed set to the floor. I offered a lot of solutions including a redesign that would be more optimal for the space. I ended up doing the design myself and drawing it all out by hand, but Grant said he wanted to go with what "he" designed AKA what I drew out for him on scrap paper in a coffee shop. He was already taking designer credit so I knew neither me or any person I brought in would see that $500 designer fee. Not really an issue since I should still be getting paid.

    Throughout my build, I tried to get people to help but Christmas time is impossible to find help. Plus after the way he talked to one over-hire I brought in (asking them to do way more than what I brought them in for) I was hesitant to bring anyone else in. I was basically working alone for a week or two after my 9-5 job. I would stay as late as I possibly could to try and get the materials purchased and the set built.

    Each time I purchased something, I asked for my reimbursement. By the end of things, I was practically begging to get reimbursed. He would take forever to get back with me and would Venmo my reimbursement which felt so sketchy. He started texting back rude responses when I asked for money back that I had spent for his show.

    While I was building the set, he would often be there working on lights, changing cues and making it difficult for me to see what I was doing. He also operated a Genie Lift with no experience and nearly ran us over when he was driving it around and laughing. However, most of the time he was not there and I had to communicate with the stage manager in order to find out when I could actually use the space since I was never given a schedule. They were rehearsing in the space so often that I rarely had time to work in the space during the times that I could actually be there.

    After my time building on basically my own, my deadline was reached. The set was basically completed, but needed some suring up and painting. Had I had time and materials, that would have definitely been completed. He became angry at me that it was not fully completed and was verbally abusive about it not being finished despite me having barely any help. I talked with leadership at 7 Stages and with the stage manager to seek help on how to deal with the situation since I had to leave town. They said that they were also having very negative experiences with him and that I should definitely leave the production. I decided to cut my losses in hopes that I could at least get some portion of the money promised since it was basically completed.

    I met with Grant having a 7 Stages leadership member present with me to corroborate my story in case he said anything abusive. Grant acted like everything was okay, that nothing happened, and tried to gaslight me into staying on. However, I had had enough and decided to forgo payment if it meant I could be free from this man. He was extremely dismissive of me and all but told me to f*** off and that he refused to pay me. I talked more with 7 Stages Leadership and the stage manager and they told me I was right in leaving and it would probably be in my best interest to not push the money aspect since they were also having major regrets working with him.

    I blamed myself for a while that things were not complete, but I really blamed myself more for staying with the project even after he started being a jerk to me and the people I brought in. Everyone I talked to that worked with him on that project was dejected and scared of him. He also never paid the people I brought in or paid their parking fines even though he told them where to park at 7 Stages and that it would be fine. It was definitely one of the worst theatrical experiences I have dealt with.

    I have held off from giving a response since I do take responsibility for what I was not able to complete, but I was always up front with what my schedule was and how much time I had. I also feel as though my story is far less tragic than a lot of the others I have been reading so I feel even more like I should "suck it up." However, he was a genuine terror to work with and was extremely manipulative. I am glad that others can see that and I hope the victims can find peace in this.

  • After college, I wanted a space where I could continue my Meisner practice and build a community. I've worked on a few productions with Grant at Pinch 'N Ouch Theatre on and off stage. They have always been completely unorganized with no sense of schedule. I remember co-directing a show for him with a separate cast, only to be told last minute that the theatre would not be available at all for any of the rehearsals I scheduled when submitting a calendar several weeks in advance, nor was any effort made to move around anything within his schedule. Contracts almost never existed unless you persistently requested one. One production, he was able to issue contracts right before the show opened. He handed out one draft, but then quickly followed it with another updated draft without informing us of a new clause stating that any slander made against him or the theatre would make us liable for an absurd amount of money. Luckily one of us was able to catch the edit and we crossed it out before signing. On another production, the stage manager confided in me that they hadn't been paid several weeks after the entire production was closed, even though there were several pursuits of inquiry with no response from Grant. If there ever was a contract issued, usually the pay was never specified. When payment was finally issued, the amount turned out to be about $100-$200 at most for a whole 2-3 months of work for almost all of the shows I've worked on, either on or off stage. There was also a real lack of collaboration, which instead became strict visions of only what Grant wanted. During the production I co-directed, I was told by the cast that while I was away, he completely changed blocking and other fundamental direction with the cast without my permission, which only put my cast and crew in a heavy state of panic and unease during tech week.

    I have not been involved with Grant in any intimate or romantic setting, but his personal relationships did interfere with his work and everyone involved. Some moments between him and his former wife, especially during the end of the marriage, would either present as heated arguments during rehearsals or completely devastate an entire production or project from continuing. The favoritism also became prominent in productions or classes with the amount of attention and opportunity given, particularly to young and attractive women.

    I've also taken a couple of classes through Pinch 'N Ouch, and found out how incredibly wasteful and vain it all was. Again, most of it was unorganized. Rules and structure when practicing Meisner techniques were broken left and right. Intimacy and physicality was not done safely. I was once pushed during an exercise and no concern or safeties were put in place, because it was all "part of the moment." The majority of the classes were spent with him preaching and going off on numerous tangents that were irrelevant to the class, mainly the prove his credibility by namedropping people and places. We were once told that he didn't know of anyone under 30 that was good enough to make a career in theatre because it wasn't possible, to which I responded with my age at the time being under 30, knowing full well that I had worked at several theatres at that point.

    I learned to distance myself over the years with less interactions and selective support. It's so tragic to hear all of these traumatic and toxic experiences from numerous people. I carefully choose to remember that Grant and Pinch 'N Ouch had its positive moments. His intention to bring together collaborators and learners through Meisner, create projects he was passionate about, and supporting artists he believed in are all what pulled me in from the beginning. I've met some of the most incredible people and have sustained wonderful friendships and work relationships because of it, and that I am grateful for. Unfortunately, none of this excuses any of the inequitable actions and hurtful behaviors, which have continued to occur over and over again, without any form of accountability or resolution. Until full acknowledgements, genuine apologies, and productive and actionable steps are made, I will continue my safety through distance.

  • I worked with Grant McGowen as a young artist that was in search of friends and a place to create and collaborate with others. My work was often undervalued and underfunded, often at my own personal expense. I was not compensated for my work and agreed to take 'payment' in the form of free classes and promises of more and better opportunities down the line. When it came time for more and better opportunities, I was often passed over in favor of other artists, completely ignored, or left to handle all aspects of production without proper assistance or guidance. Grant proved himself to be unprofessional and a master manipulator. I do not wish Grant any personal or professional harm, but I do not believe he is capable of changing his behavior and for the safety of others he should not be in a leadership position overseeing young/impressionable artists.

  • I met Grant McGowen through one of my best friend’s while they were doing a play at PnO. It is dangerous when a predator hides behind what appears to be a legitimate business, it gives you a false sense of safety and trust. It started with just hanging out as a group after rehearsals and quickly escalated into a fling. I was unfortunately not in a great mental place at the time and was trying to avoid going out, partying and alcohol as a coping mechanism. Grant saw those vulnerabilities and used them against me. Coerced into hanging out, inebriation and not thinking clearly sums up the short time we spent together intimately.

    During this time, the way he would talk about past partners, both long term and short, was shocking. Sharing intimate and personal details in a callous and malicious manner. Always a victim himself and not the perpetrator. Because of the time we spent together, I have had people know of me through Grant’s stories before even meeting me. The slander, lack of respect, and loose lips is a gross display of his lack of empathy.

    Even after the intimate portion of our relationship, in social settings he would still be possessive. Countless times I would be made aware of his presence by feeling a hand around my neck from behind and getting pulled into him. That is not a normal or safe way to get a “friends” attention.

    Outside of this, I personally did not experience the physical violence that countless of his other partners have. But I did have a conversation with him post our relationship where he informed me I was a little brat the entire time and that I should have been punished. It is what I wanted the whole time and he didn’t understand yet. Even if this was meant to be “flirting”, it was unsolicited and scary foreshadowing for his overlap of love=violence.

    Grant used his position as a director, a teacher, and theater owner to find and cycle through women at his leisure. He would neglect his duties in those capacities to pursue and seek relationships. He pays his performers in promises and grandiose talks of what can be, aka he is a scam artist pulling people in. The friend I mentioned earlier has yet to be compensated for the rehearsal process, time committed, or at minimum performance days. Her male co-stars were. This is just another reflection of the level of respect Grant McGowen has for women.

  • On the production side, most of the problems I experienced were financial. Grant broke personal tools and refused to replace them. He also insisted that I transport scenic pieces in my personal vehicle, and when the windshield cracked because a bed frame shifted in transport, Grant refused to help with the repairs. Throughout the process I was expected to pay for things and be reimbursed, but both reimbursement and contracted payments were chronically delayed.

    On Bachelorette I was aware of two incidents after the fact. In the first, Grant open handed slapped an actress, claiming it was a stage slap. The slap was forceful enough to cause redness and swelling. No trained stage combatant would have approved it for production.

    During performances of Bachelorette, one character is scripted to drink multiple bottles of champagne. Grant insisted on using ginger ale as the champagne substitute, despite multiple warnings from production staff that it was too much soda for an actor to chug in the course of a single performances. Multiple alternatives were proposed but Grant refused to collaborate. During one performance the actress ended up vomiting on stage because of the quantity of soda she was expected to consume.

  • My first interactions with Grant were mostly positive. I’d heard he was a bit of a doofus, but I audited one of his classes with the hope I’d be able to network with some fellow actors. Although I thought he was a poor teacher, I didn’t really see any red flags from this class alone and I thought maybe the rumors I’d heard about him being an idiot and an asshole were unfounded. He implied that one of the actors in my class and I were flirtatious (even though we were ACTING, and she had a boyfriend) and during one class we got the news of Robin Williams passing. We were all saddened by the news, but he barely reacted. I started to get the sense that there was some sort of disconnect with this guy. Still, most creative types have their quirks and we remained acquaintances.

    Not long after that I was cast in a show at PNO. It was going to have an A and B cast and I was in the B-cast. One of the productions was to be directed by his wife. It was an exciting opportunity but about a month from when rehearsals were to start, Grant posted on Facebook that he and his wife were getting a divorce but that he wanted her to still direct. I was pretty shocked by the decision and told him I was quitting the production. A few years before this, I had been a part of a production where the couple who ran the theater were splitting up, also because the husband was a narcissist and a cheater (outdoor Shakespeare north of the city, IYKYK) and I wasn’t about to go through that experience again. I politely suggested that maybe his personal life should come first, and he cancelled the production. He would later say that his wife was “depressed,” and how he tried to make her happy but couldn’t. Gaslighting 101.

    At the same time, I was getting ready to direct a short film. My DP had to quit on short-notice, and I was in desperate need of a competent filmmaker with access to equipment. I put the word out and Grant reached out about filling the position. I really didn’t want to bring him onto the project given his need to always be the center of attention, and the fact that he seemed to be on-edge with his recent divorce. But, he was willing to work for free and everyone else was out of my budget. I agreed to make him my DP and give him a producing credit. We did some location scouting but other than that, I couldn’t get him to meet with me to discuss shooting, story-boarding, or really any sort of pre-production. Then, a few days before shooting, he informed me that I needed to pay him for his work on the production and that he could only shoot for two days. There’s nothing wrong with wanting to get paid for your work but that was not what we had agreed to, and I had no time to re-budget everything. The short was set in a camping/outdoor setting and the plan was to go to a campground in Alabama and shoot the whole thing over three days. With his last-minute demands, I had to cut the production time to just two days, with only one day at the campground. I had been planning for months and funding everything myself, out of pocket. He also tried to override my decisions many times and even mocked my decisions in front of the cast and crew, even though I was the writer/director. The resulting film was extremely disappointing, and I largely blame him.

    It was around this time that I started to see more red flags. I began to realize how the casts of his shows were always full of young, attractive actresses. I can’t think of one show he did that had any cast members over 50 or an actor one could describe as heavier. I started to notice the revolving door of talent of people from his classes being cast in shows and then never returning. I began to realize that he was parasite and his whole “career” was built on the talent of others and the only reason he had a theater was financial support from his family. He openly flirted with the actresses and female crew of my short film. I started to get the impression that he only agreed to be a part of the production because of the girls in the cast. The short was part of the “film festival” at PNO. It was supposed to be the big premiere, but the sound sucked and there was low turnout. The whole experience was so discouraging that I left the world of film and theater for good. I realized that I’d been hanging out with people like Grant who I didn’t even like because I thought it would help my career. I’m ashamed I was ever associated with him.

  • I lived in ATL years ago and unfortunately got sucked into the scheme/scam that is PNO Theatre and Grant McGowen. I was - sadly - not remotely surprised when I read the article about Grant not properly obtaining the licensing to a production of Rent and what cast members had to say about it / the rehearsal “process.” Years ago, Grant “bragged” about producing shows without the licensing in order to save money. So it seems nothing has changed. I personally witnessed his gross behavior towards two of his exes, and many other women who came through the doors of PNO. The theater and film community in ATL has been talking about Grant for over a decade now. Unfortunately, many have continued enabling him, whether as a friend, artist, or relative / financially - Namely his mother. Part of me is baffled that he would open a lawsuit against all of his victims. The other part is not surprised at all, based on his never-ending pattern of delusion and narcissism. I don’t live in the state anymore. I am married, have children, and switched careers - I quite honestly left the industry because of Grant and other men in the industry like him. Not worth it to me. Which is such a damn shame. I stand with all the victims.

  • I mostly interacted with Grant either through friends who dated him, or women I dated who knew him so my stories are from those women's experiences with him. Those experiences ranged from him talking inappropriately and publicly about those women's sex lives, including coming onto them despite them never expressing interest or repeatedly expressing a direct lack of interest, to him intentionally giving women scenes to do in class that required them to kiss another woman, seemingly for Grant's own enjoyment. This was behavior exhibited towards women either in his plays or in his classes meaning it was a totally inappropriate abuse of power involving Grant taking advantage of women who were simply looking for acting opportunities and trying to work on their careers. He expressed sexual interest in, and spoke publicly about the sex life of a woman I was dating while she was in one of his plays, despite her telling him she wasn't interested over and over again. He established himself as a figure in the Atlanta acting/theatre/film community whom people felt they needed to work with to stay relevant in the industry and created an atmosphere where women were careful not to upset him for fear of being blacklisted at his theatre and losing career opportunities.

  • It’s way overdue that Machiavellian sadistic malignant narcissists like Grant be held accountable. Grant conned me on a shoot, seeming so charming and pursuing my company at all times. We were staying in the same hotel. It did become sexual and toward the end of the shoot, he negged me about not being there for me if I was to be ‘pregnant.’ He discarded me like trash in complete confusion and after the shoot he continued to contact me while posting pictures of himself all over social media (IG) with another woman he was clearly in a relationship with. (She had long dark hair and was being love bombed in exactly the same way I was) He was still offering to take my headshots and wanting to see me, I live in [REDACTED]. The continued contact only lasted a couple of months afterwards as I also found that he had a ‘wife,’ that it was made clear he forced into having threesomes and other sexual relationships through his web of deceit and coercive control. I went immediately to the doctor to be tested. 

    Unfortunately, I went through the worst of this kind of predatory hell later on with someone else and have had the gross misfortune of finally realizing that my family of origin is of this brand of dark tetrad character disorder. Predators of the same ilk are able to spot those vulnerabilities and leverage them. 

    Yeah, he is without conscience entirely and an extremely dangerous con-artist. Their playbook and patterns are all the same and I’m grateful that something is being done but he made it clear he keeps a harem, part of his discard is letting you know passive aggressively (social media, texting, triangulation) that he is trying to hurt you and confuse you, an emotional reaction seeking machine. It’s not possible to give consent to someone who has only ever lied to you with every word and only has a goal of destroying you after he’s love-leveraged and manipulated you to death. 

  • Grant taught me at NYCDA for a small amount of time, a little over a month. I was given the task of preparing a fantasy situation by Grant: where a friend of mine accused me of doing something awful to them, and that they had told everyone at the school I was going to that this was true. The example he gave was sexual assault. I wasn't exactly phased by this at first because I'm in an acting conservatory and I have to do what the teacher says. However, after thinking about it a long while from when it happened... as I did see this site at one point back then... I had a eureka moment. What a weird fantasy preparation to give to someone, especially with all of the statements I've read on here. I can only apologize to anyone who had to go through anything.

THE FORMAL LETTER

TRIGGER WARNING: Topics discussed include abuse, sexual assault, violence, suicide, and harassment.